


Secrets

by JayceCarter



Category: Fallout 4
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Not Canon Compliant, Rare Pairings, Snark, Spoilers, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-30
Updated: 2018-08-02
Packaged: 2019-03-11 10:04:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 31,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13521939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayceCarter/pseuds/JayceCarter
Summary: Piper's life is about shining light on every dark secret she can find, and Kellogg is a man full of secrets. It doesn't make them a perfect match, but maybe it still makes them exactly what the other needs.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So, I've been really sick. I'm sorry for the lack of updates from me. My kids are still sick, but I'm finally starting to get back on my feet. Thus, here is a story no one asked for, lol. It won't be super long, but I was wanting to write something with Piper. I am hoping to be back to a more normal schedule in the new few days as I get better.
> 
> This story takes place prior to sole survivor waking up (though we might reach that point with it). This occurs when Kellogg is living in Diamond City with synth shaun.

Piper kept her fingers wrapped around the kid’s shirt as she climbed the steps, pulling him along with her. Not that he put up much of a fight.

 

Though with Piper’s mood as foul as it was, she’d be surprised if anyone fought with her right then. She wasn't known as a level headed person around town.

 

“I’m sorry, ma’am!” The kid said again as Piper stormed up to the front door of the house he’d indicated.

 

“Ma’am? Exactly how old do you think I am? Wait, don’t answer that.” Piper knocked on the door, using the side of her fist to hit it hard.

 

Two knocks later, it opened to show a man, scar over his left eye and cheek. He held a cigarette between two fingers on the hand that held the door open. His gaze drifted between Piper and the kid. “Yeah?”

 

Piper released the kid, who bolted in, beneath the man’s arm, and diapered up the stairs. “Your son there is quite the menace.”

 

He didn’t answer right away, bringing the cigarette to his lips, the tip brightening in the early evening dusk. “Anything he broke, damaged, or stole will be handled. Just give me the bill.”

 

“This isn’t about caps, buddy. You can’t buy your way out of every little problem. You think you can walk into this town, buy up your cozy little ‘no one knows I’m here’ corner and do whatever you want? Caps don’t fix everything.”

 

“Caps and bullets, sweetheart. Between those two, you can fix just about anything. So, which one is it gonna take to make you go away?”

 

The threat wasn’t subtle, but Piper got the sense the man in front of her didn’t do subtle. It was in the large piece of armor on his shoulder, the heavy gun on his hip, the desk visible behind him covered in gun mods and explosives. This was a man who put what he thought right out in the open and to hell with what people thought about it.

 

And since he’d made it clear who he was, Piper figured she ought to as well. She leaned in and poked her finger against the center of his chest. “Let me make myself clear, _sweetheart_. I’ve never backed off by being threatened or paid off before, and I doubt it’ll start with you. This town might hate me, but they’ll hate dead bodies even more. You’re trying to lay low, am I right? I mean, you buy this tiny, out of the way place, keep to yourself, give no name or information when buying it, so clearly you don’t want any attention. Killing me would give you a lot of attention, and annoying me will give you even more, trust me.”

 

The man looked down at the finger pressed against his chest, his lips tilting up. He released a soft laugh before clamping the cigarette between his lips. “Well, Ms. Wright, you show more backbone than I’d have given a nosy little reporter credit for. Since you ain’t leaving, you want to tell me why you’re hauling the kid around and yelling at me?”

 

“I walked around the corner and caught your little spawn there kissing my sister.”

 

Even saying it made Piper’s cheeks flush. Yes, she knew Nat would eventually get interested in boys. It was the way things went. She just thought she’d have a few more years before she had to handle it. The idea of trying to give her the talk, of having to frighten boys off, it seemed far too large a task for her to have.

 

Keeping Nat alive was one thing. She could do that. Keeping her from getting knocked up by a boy who swore she couldn’t get pregnant if she was on top? Hell, that was the sort of thing she wasn’t sure she was cut out for.

 

The man laughed then; not the soft, amused chuckle from before but a full laugh. He pulled the cigarette from his lips before it fell to the ground and grasped the door frame.

 

“It’s not funny,” Piper hissed, leaning in to get him to quiet down.

 

“Oh, it’s pretty fucking funny. Wasn’t sure the kid would have it in him. I’ve seen that sister of yours, every bit the hellcat you are, I’m sure. If she didn’t want that kiss, the kid would have come back wearing her scratches.”

 

“That’s not the point. He can’t just walk around kissing girls, especially not my sister.”

 

“Ain’t that what boys do when they see a pretty girl?” The man’s eyebrow cocked up, the one with the scar, a blatant smirk on his lips.

 

Lips that were more interesting than they had been a moment before. In fact, all of him was a bit more interesting than it had been before. The way his shoulders filled out the jacket, the way the belt at his waist emphasized his hips.

 

“Well-“ she said, distracted.

 

“-Maybe it’s been too long since someone did that to you, huh? Maybe you’ve forgotten what it feels like to have someone push you up against a wall and kiss you?” He placed his arm up on the doorframe above them, making him seem impossibly larger.

 

Piper wasn’t a small woman, and yet he managed to make her feel tiny right then. Smoke drifted from the cigarette that still dangled between his fingers as he looked down at her, his face inches from hers, but she refused to back down.

 

“You don’t know anything.” The response was half-hearted

 

“Thinking about it, ain’t you? Fuck, bet it’s been a long time for you. Wouldn’t mind helping you out. Could get a room in the Inn for some privacy. Give me a few minutes and I’ll have you knocking off this cock-blocking bullshit.”

 

She gathered her wits and ignored the breathy quality her voice had, just flat out pretended it wasn’t there. “I don’t slum it. Just make sure you keep that kid of yours on a leash from now on.”

 

“Whatever you say, Ms. Wright. Have yourself a nice night.”

 

She pretended not to hear his laugh as she stormed off.

 

#

 

Kellogg shut the door on a laugh. Fuck, he liked her. He’d been hard as fuck the moment she’d stared down his threat like it was nothing.

 

A hard glare and a good threat sent most people running. He’d had a lot of years to perfect that, to learn how to get people to act and react just the way he wanted them to. Show his teeth, his gun, and they tripped over themselves to get away.

 

Not Piper Wright, however.

 

And the fact that threat didn’t do shit to her but a little sexual bantering had her flushing and fleeing? She was more fun than he thought was possible anymore.

 

“I’m really sorry, Mr. Kellogg.” Shaun stood at the top of the stairs, cheeks red, face worried.

 

“Don’t be. Kissing girls? Part of life, kid. Another part of life is dealing with their pissed off older sisters.”

 

“Are you going to tell Father?” That edge of fear killed Kellogg.

 

Fuck, he remembered Shaun at that age, the real Shaun, back before he’d been called Father. How many fuck-ups had Kellogg covered up for that kid? It started back when he was not much older than this Shaun and got into a fistfight with another kid. Kellogg had patched him up, smoothed shit over, kept it a secret.

 

The scientists didn’t like the idea of their precious savior being human, let alone a kid. Went on after that. He snuck Shaun his first beer, drank one with him at the top of the Institute, overlooking all the things they both knew was gonna take their lives. Both just cogs in a big fucking system.

 

Course, Shaun ran that system, now. Kellogg was still a cog, but Shaun was the fucker pushing all the gears.

 

Maybe that’s why he sent the kid with Kellogg? He wanted him to have something of a real life, and Kellogg was the only one who’d given Shaun a taste of that.

 

“Nah, kid. I won’t tell him shit. Doesn’t need to know, does he?”

 

The kid released a shuddering breath before he nodded. “Thanks.”

 

“No problem. Now, come on and eat, and tell me all about this girl.”

 

“You really want to know about her?”

 

Yeah, Kellogg doubted many people wanted to know shit about the kid. He was an experiment to them, nothing more.

 

“Yeah, kid, I want to know. Also, for anything you can tell me about her sister, I’ll give you an extra Fancy Lad Cake, huh?”

 

Intel was worth a few snack cakes.

 

# 

 

 

She’d show him.

 

Piper wavered by the front door of the little place in the back stands, her hands on her hips, her foot tapping. She’d had a week to stew over what he’d said.

 

She needed a seeing to?

 

How dare he. Add to that little gem that she found out he'd been asking everywhere about her. Piper enjoyed her privacy, a funny thing given her occupation, but the idea that he was out there digging into her past had her beyond annoyed.

 

She was going to knock on that door and tell him off, and then tell him it hadn’t actually been that long since she'd been with a man because she could lie as well as the best liars, and then she’d wipe his smug grin off his face with a kiss-

 

Wait, no.

 

No. That was not how it was going to go.

 

Sure, the whiskey she’d shared with Nick, and by shared she meant she drank it and he sat there, had loosened her tongue a bit. It would need to be far looser to get anywhere near that man, however.

 

Piper lifted her hand and rapped her knuckles on the door.

 

Shuffling inside said he was home, but it took another four knocks before he opened the door.

 

Piper didn’t wait for an invite before she pushed past him and walked into his place.

 

“Well, Ms. Wright, why don’t you come on in?” He shut the door behind her and crossed his arms over his chest.

 

“Don’t you Ms. Wright me, Mr. Conrad Kellogg.”

 

He went still, the sort of still that reminded her of a radscorpion before it attacked. “So, it seems the nosy fucking little reporter got herself some answers, huh?”

 

“You don’t get to say anything. You think my sources didn’t let me know someone was looking in on me?” She backed up as he walked toward her until her ass hit the desk. “I don’t like being on the receiving side of that sort of scrutiny.”

 

“I knew a reporter who was a thorn in the ass of pretty much everyone lived here, but I wanted to know a little more after the tongue lashing you gave me, and anything else I’d like that tongue of yours to do.”

 

Piper pulled her gaze away at that, at the images that came to mind when his whiskey-soaked voice said it. “And what did you find out?”

 

“That you’re more trouble than any little girl has a right to be. Fuck, sweetheart, the lists you are on? I’m almost jealous.”

 

“I always said you were never a success as a reporter until people wanted to kill you. Well, let’s just say, I’m very successful.”

 

“I can see that.” He crowded her until she sat on the desk, until she looked up and met his gaze. “You find out anything else about me?”

 

“That some people say you’re the Institute's errand boy.”

 

His fingers went to her jaw, the first time he touched her, a tight grip as a warning. “If that’s true, it’s probably a very stupid thing to go spreading around, isn’t it? Can’t imagine, if that were true, that the sort of man who would work for people like that would be too happy with someone knowing about it, let alone talking about it.” He leaned in close enough that his breath spilled over her lips, but he didn’t touch her. “Could be pretty fucking dangerous.”

 

“If it’s true, you mean.”

 

His lips tilted up. “Right. If it’s true. So, if you think you have me all figured out, what are you doing here? Seems like a goody-two-shoes cock-block like you wouldn’t step foot in this place knowing what you think you know.”

 

“I came back to tell you off.”

 

His tongue traced her bottom lip, a light touch that had her struggling to keep a moan in. “Doesn’t seem like you’re doing much telling off right now. Maybe that’s not really why you’re here?”

 

“Why else would I be here?”

 

He caught her bottom lip between his teeth and pulled until that moan she tried to keep in escaped. “For that, maybe?”

 

“Where’s your son?”

 

“Ain’t my kid, and he ain’t here. Got the place all to ourselves tonight.” He soothed the bite mark on her lip with his tongue before he allowed his lips to brush hers. “So, Ms. Wright, you staying?”

 

Piper threw her caution aside, wrapped her fingers in his jacket, and pulled him the rest of the way against her. “Yeah, I’m staying.”


	2. Chapter 2

 Kellogg leaned further over the girl, crowding her, taking all the space. He was a lot of shit, and most of it bad, and he accepted that about himself. He might not be big on self-reflection, but he knew he was selfish as fuck. He wanted to take, to own, to have.

 

Power, caps, reputation, the girl on the desk? He wanted all of it.

 

He’d given up hope that she’d show again, figured she was too smart to do it. Looked like all it took was a little liquid courage and a good bit of annoyance to get her to ignore her better judgment. He filed that away for the future. Always good to know. He wasn’t above using whatever he had to to get what he wanted.

 

He stopped with the teasing bullshit. Teasing was a way to lure prey in, but she’d gone and jumped right into his trap. Instead, he moved over her until she laid flat on the desk and took her mouth in a hard kiss.

 

She tasted like whiskey and cigarettes, funny since he didn’t peg her as a smoker. Must have soaked it up from that rust bucket synth-reject she liked to hang around with. He licked the taste from her as he helped shrug his jacket off, her impatient hands shoving it from his shoulders.

 

Her blunt little nails dug into his shoulders. Not long and manicured, but not chipped either. Nah, not Piper Wright. Girl was all about efficiency and her crusade.

 

Kellogg didn’t deal with fucking crusades. Never had, really, but after all the bullshit of his life? Crusades were for better people than him, and that’s what he tasted in her. The hope of youth, that time before you realize how badly life fucks everyone when you still got to think shit worked out. For a second life wasn’t about the shit the Institute paid him to do, or the endless nights or anything else. It was nothing but this foolish, stupid fucking optimist below him.

 

He grasped her thighs and spread them wide around his hips until he could grind against her. Even with the clothing keeping them apart, her body gave like he knew it would. Soft and so fucking sweet.

 

What was it about a woman’s body that could make him just forget everything? Even the meanest bitch he’d ever run across still went soft in all the right ways when they let a man between their thighs. Fucking magic, that was, the way all those hard edges would ease up and smooth out and just welcome him on in.

 

And she did welcome him. It was in the way those thighs gripped him, the arch of her back. No matter how hesitant she’d been before, she warmed up fast.

 

Kellogg thrust against her, hips twisting to rub his cock along her cunt. She gasped, letting him in more, so he continued to work her, to work them both.

 

He wanted to tear away the fucking clothing and sink into her, to fill her up, to fuck her until she was a moaning, writhing mess. Nothing better than a girl totally undone. This one would look damn good, sweaty hair pushed back, broken moans on those lips, bites along her skin. He wanted to see sweat catching the light between her shoulder blades as he took her from behind, wanted to see the way she’d roll those hips above him.

 

Fuck, he wanted it all right then.

 

Instead of that, he pulled away from her. “Get your ass upstairs and out of anything you don’t want me to tear off you.”

 

“I don’t take orders well.” She set a hand behind her to lift herself to sitting, the set of her lips more adorable than she’d probably like.

 

“It’ll be fun to teach you to, won’t it?”

 

Her cheeks flushed as she slid off the desk, gaze darting between the door and the stairs like she wasn’t sure what she wanted.

 

One more look at him sealed it, though, and she headed up the stairs.

 

#

 

Piper pulled the blanket over her, her clothing piled on the nightstand. For a moment, she wished she was one of those women who could have one night stands without their brains going the whole time.

 

She wanted to stretch out on the bed, some sexy come-hither look, a crook of her finger, and make Kellogg fall to his knees.

 

Instead, she was thinking. Always thinking.

 

Did he really work for the Institute? All signs seemed to point to yes, and he’d said as much, hadn’t he? So what did that mean? Could she use that to her advantage somehow? And what sort of woman was he into normally? Probably busty women in tight clothing, like Magnolia. Oh, Magnolia, the woman who made Piper question exactly how straight she actually was.

 

While she wasn’t sure Kellogg’s normal type, she was fairly sure it wasn’t scrawny, boyish reporters who yelled at him. She didn’t think that was anyone's type.

 

It wasn’t even her type.

 

And her type hadn’t ever been arrogant, probably amoral mercenaries, either. Not that it seemed to matter, since they were still both there, willing to indulge in whatever this was for the night.

 

Of course, living in Diamond City, watching people, it had let Piper in on some truths. People lied, and when sex was on the table, standards and types stopped mattering.

 

So, a night of insanity. She’d earned that, right? She spent most of her time running down stories for the newspaper and the rest of her time trying to raise her sister. She was allowed to have one stupid night where she did something foolish, something insane, something just for her.

 

She wasn’t sleeping with him for a story, or to help anyone, or to do anything except feel something different just for the night.

 

“Am I boring you, Ms. Wright?”

 

Piper’s fingers tightened around the blanket, keeping it up over her chest. “A little, Mr. Kellogg.”

 

He unbuttoned his shirt as he spoke like it didn’t bother him at all. “Be careful tossing that name around. People have died for that name.”

 

“I thought we got past the threatening.”

 

He removed his pants, taking a pair of underwear with them until he stood there naked. His skin was lighter than she’d have expected, though she supposed he probably wore armor all the time. The thing that didn’t surprise her? The scars that covered him. “I’m not threatening you, just giving you good advice. I’m not the sort of person you want people knowing you know. Safer for you to act like we ain’t never met.”

 

“We haven’t, really.”

 

He got onto the bed, moving over her until only the blanket separated them. “This seems like meeting, don’t it?” He braced his weight on one hand, his other snaking beneath the blanket to trail across her bare side.

 

Piper moaned into his kiss, giving up on trying to seem unaffected. She wasn’t there because she wasn’t affected. What was a little pride worth when she really needed to feel unhindered for just one night?

 

Kellogg’s callused fingers scraped her skin, his hand reaching her chest. He grasped one breast, her nipple pressing into his palm. His large hand easily palmed the breast, since it wasn’t like she’d ever had much to start with.

 

Any other day she might have been embarrassed. She’d have thought about the way she looked compared to him, have started to second guess the whole thing, have started to but right then? She arched up and into his hand, offering more.

 

His chuckle blew across her cheek as he moved his lips over her jaw and to her throat. The press of his lips was broken by the scrape of teeth, by bites too soft to leave a mark on anything but her mind.

 

Piper’s fingers peeled off the blanket, moving to ghost over his chest, tracing each scar, each dip and shift of muscle.

 

Kellogg slid his hand between her thighs, not bothering to remove the blanket, just going by feel.

 

And damn him, he seemed to work by feel pretty well. He walked two fingers up her slit, dipping in before sliding around her clit.

 

Her legs fell open at the touch, at the way his lips latched onto the skin over her pulse.

 

“Don’t you leave a mark on me.” She shoved his shoulders until he released her neck.

 

“From what I’ve heard, you don’t exactly have a reputation worth worrying about.” He pressed two fingers into her, slow, stretching her. He watched her face as he did it, and somehow that felt more personal than anything else, his lips tilted up into a smirk that widened when she moaned. “Seems like I was right. It has been a while.”

 

“You talk too much.”

 

“Which is funny, since you’re the reporter. Figured you for a talker.” He pulled those fingers from her, then thrust back into her, talking as if he wasn’t fingering her at the same time, as if she could pay any attention at all. “Come on, Ms. Wright, try to pay attention.”

 

She hooked her leg around his hip, letting it stuck out from the blanket. His skin was warm, the muscles of his back tight against the heel she dug in there. “I’m not here for conversation. I have plenty of people I can talk to if I want to talk.”

 

He pulled his fingers from her and shifted the blanket out of the way. “Fine. Guess this ain’t a getting to know each other thing.” Kellogg reached past her, pulling out the drawer in the nightstand to pull a condom out. He tore it open and rolled it on in a way that told her he was no stranger to one night stands.

 

And why did that bother her?

 

The fact this was no strings attached was exactly why it worked. Her life didn’t have room for romance and complications. A night of cheap and easy sex was all she could handle, and the press of Kellogg’s cock against her slick folds said he could give her exactly that.

 

He paused above her, eyebrow kicked up, a smile on those lips. “Knew I’d get you like this as soon as you were yelling at me. All that fire? Yeah, figured we’d work through it a funner way.”

 

Piper lifted her head off the pillow to nip at his bottom lip, tugging it before falling backward. “Get to it, Kellogg.”

 

He laughed before shifting his hips forward to fill her.

 

#

 

The way Piper’s eyes drifted closed, the bite of her teeth into her lips, it was too damned tempting. Yeah, she was strung tight. He’d known it when she’d yelled at him, when she’d stumbled over her words at the slightest sign of interest.

 

But fuck is she didn’t look good all spread out below him.

 

Without the fucking blanket in the way, he got a better look at her. Thin, yeah, but strong. Not layered in muscle but toned, probably from all the chasing down of stories she did. Not a lot of scars and the few she had were light. He grasped her thigh and hiked it up to angle her better.

 

Her nails bit into him as he fucked her, broken kisses between heavy breaths. She hooked her long legs around his waist, freeing him to reach between ‘em.

 

He was no one's charity case, and there was no way in fuck she wouldn’t be coming for him. While he normally didn’t give a fuck if his one night stands got off, didn’t care of they enjoyed themselves. In fact, he’d rather be forgettable. A few drinks to make shit hazy was exactly how he liked it.

 

Not this time, though. He wanted her to damn well remember how she came around him, wanted her to remember the way she’d tremble afterward, the feeling of him inside her, owning her.

 

She reached a hand above her, pressed the flat of her palm against the wall to brace herself against his thrusts. It let her roll her hips to meet his thrusts, to take him deeper.

 

He could almost see the bullshit slide off her. The way she’d gripped the blanket at first, the nerves, they all drifted away until she was right there with him. She wasn’t babbling or hissing at him, she was only taking everything he had to give her.

 

She came around him, her head thrown back. He scraped his teeth over her exposed throat, offered up like a sacrifice to him, his finger prolonging her orgasm until she whimpered beneath him.

 

He pulled his hand away, but each stroke of his hips would cause his pelvis to slide against her over-sensitive clit. She'd gasp and the aftershocks of her orgasm would cause her to writhe beneath him.

 

“You’re fucking high maintenance,” he muttered before pulling out and flipping her over.

 

“Don’t manhandle me,” she said.

 

He grasped her hips, pulling her up to her knees before he drove back into her. Fuck the playing; he took her hard this time, each deep thrust like he could force her to remember him, like he tattooed this shit in her head.

 

His hand slid up her spine, collecting the sweat that dampened her skin, memorizing the curve of her back, the way her hipbones pointed.

 

When he got close, he buried himself deep inside her willing body as he came.

 

A moment later he withdrew, panting and tired. He took off the condom and tossed it into the wastebasket.

 

Piper rolled over, pulling the blanket back up over her.

 

“ You're hiding again? Like I ain’t see it all already?” He shifted up on the bed until his back pressed against the wall. He wasn’t shy, and covering seemed pointless.

 

She sat up, hands grasping the clothing she’d piled on the dresser. “Shut up.”

 

“You know, you don’t have to take off just yet.”

 

“Yeah, I think I really do. This isn’t a ‘let’s hang out and be friends’ sort of thing. This has an expiration date, and I’m thinking that was about five minutes ago.”

 

Kellogg shook his head as she stood, taken the blanket with her. She dressed, flashing him little skin as she worked the pants up her legs and buttoned her shirt. The hat went on like a piece of armor. The flushed woman, the one wet and desperate and needy, that one was buried beneath the nerves again.

 

“So, yeah.” She laced her boots before sliding on her jacket. “Thanks.”

 

“That’s it? Just thanks for the fuck and you run out?”

 

Piper paused, finally looking him in the eye. “What else is there?”

 

What else was there? That was the question, wasn’t it? Wasn’t like he was sitting there asking her for more. He couldn’t, really. Institute didn’t really give him a lot of room for anything, especially not with a security risk like her.

 

Hell, she was already on the Institute’s bad side.  There wasn’t really any sort of future there, nothing that was coming from any of this. Only place more time together was headed for them was disaster. 

 

Instead of saying any of that because they both fucking knew it already, he reached for a cigarette from the side table. “Not a fucking thing, I guess. Take care of yourself, Ms. Wright.”


	3. Chapter 3

Piper missed her hat. She missed her jacket. She missed her trademark pieces that made her feel like her.

 

However, information had proven difficult to find when Piper Wright, reporter, came into town. People clammed up, and she’d end up with a whole lot of nothing.

 

So, when chasing down a story like the chem dealer selling to kids out of Goodneighbor, Piper sometimes found the best route to take was a good disguise.

 

She wore a pair of jeans and a button up plaid shirt, her hair pinned back with a white wig on instead. She looked like any of the other caravan workers who came through the town, looking for a good time and a few caps. No one gave her a second look, which was just the way she liked it right then.

 

Besides, it almost let her pretend she was just one of them. Just another drifter enjoying the music and the chems and the people.

 

Since her disastrous night with Kellogg, she’d been trying to get it out of her head. It wasn’t disastrous because it was bad, of course. No, it had been far too good. She felt like a junkie in need of a fix. She’d wander over near the stairs to his place, then keep walking out toward Abbott like she’d been headed that way the whole time.

 

What a lie. She knew damned well where she’d wanted to go. She wanted to go up those steps and get lost in the man she had no business being around.

 

The month since their one-night-stand had her gathering more information about him. He was, if anything, worse than she’d realized.

 

Not too many had much on him, an impressive feat. Normally, Piper could dig up dirt on anyone. Didn’t matter how clean someone tried to look, she knew where to find the skeletons. The most moral person had plenty to hide, and Piper could find it.

 

The thing was, Kellogg didn’t try to hide his skeletons. Even what she found didn’t make a lot of sense. People had stories going back twenty, thirty years. He might have been a young man thirty years ago, but the idea that he’d been in the same line of work all that time? Hell, a few stories seemed to be from even further back than that, like some mythical boogeyman of the Commonwealth, like the face of the Institute.

 

That didn’t make a whole lot of sense to her. She’d learned information wasn’t always reliable, though, and she could see Kellogg being the sort of man to inspire a lot of false information.

 

So, she’d made a point to forget all about that night. She didn’t need to remember how he’d felt inside her, or the way his lips had teased her, or anything else about the frustrating man. She hadn’t even caught sight of him in town, not that she normally had before.

 

Somehow, he seemed to get into and out of the city without even her noticing. Maybe she could figure it out if-

 

No.

 

No more. She wasn’t going to think about him, or worry about him, or speculate. The last thing she needed was to get her head blown off during an investigation just because she was busy fantasizing about some merc she had no business being around in the first place.

 

“I hear you’re looking for me?” A woman said. Her rotted out teeth said chem user, at least. The rest? The bodyguard she’d left on the outside of the alley, the cold edge to her eyes? Those things said dealer.

 

The dealers strung out on their own product always made Piper cautious. They were unpredictable and quick to violence.

 

Piper pulled the bag of caps from her belt. “What I’m looking for is someone who can set up new chem lines into Diamond City.”

 

The woman’s eyes caught on the bag, lips splitting into a grin that cracked her dry lips when the caps jangled. “There’s already a chem dealer in Diamond City, princess.”

 

“There’s one, yeah. He’s only dealing with a small portion of the available clientele, though. I’m hoping to find someone willing to break into the underutilized demographic.”

 

“And what demographic is that?”

 

“Kids, of course.”

 

She laughed, the cackle harsh in her chem-worn throat. “Kids bring down a lot a heat. See, you gotta get the dose right or they’re gonna overdose too fast, and people tend to get all bleeding heart about it. Stupid assholes are all ‘don’t sell to the kids’ and shit. Carries a lot more danger.”

 

Piper tossed the caps over to her. “Not really. See, I already have a guard in my pocket, so getting the chems in will be no problem. The Mayor will look the other way as long we agree to help him get elected next year. Best of all? I know the teacher who runs the school there, and he’s willing to look the other way for a discount on his own goods.”

 

“So, if you’ve got this all worked out, what do you need us for?”

 

“I’m not a chemist. I have someone willing to sell in Diamond City, but I need a good lab. You can put me in touch with yours.”

 

“You think it’s just that easy?” The woman came forward until they stood face to face, inches between them. Her breath reeked of grape mentats. “You think I’ll just give up my lab to some person I don’t even know?”

 

Piper kept her game face on. “Yeah, I do. You’re smart enough to know a good deal when you see it.”

 

“Yeah, see, I am pretty smart. I listen. I hear things. Included in those things are the rumors of some nosy bitch reporter from Diamond City who is looking to nail my lab.” The woman shoved Piper with a hand to the center of her chest.

 

Piper’s back stung as she hit the brick wall in the alleyway.

 

She should have taken up Hancock on his offer of a guard. He’d even offered her Fahr for the night, just to keep her alive.

 

No, she’d said. She could handle herself. She was Piper Wright, reporter, smart-ass who could talk her way out of anything.

 

And what she couldn’t talk her way out of, she could think her way out of.

 

Piper swung her head forward to headbutt the woman, but having never tried the move before, managed to smack her nose against the woman’s forehead.

 

Her eyes watered, the burst of pain through her nose saying she’d managed to do more damage to herself than the chem dealer.

 

Instead of letting herself get caught up in it, Piper threw herself forward, knocking the woman to the ground. She couldn’t see well, eyes still watering, her hands grasping for the pistol hooked to her belt.

 

She pulled the gun and leaned up, leveling the weapon at the woman beneath her. “I want the location of the lab.”

 

The woman narrowed her gaze on the weapon. “Hangman’s Alley.”

 

“And the chemist?”

 

“A man named Carl. Don’t get too full of yourself, because they’ll kill you the second you step foot there.”

 

Piper reached into the woman’s jacket pocket for what she knew she’d find: chems. She grasped the med-x, pulling the cap off the syringe with her teeth before she injected a dose into the woman’s thigh and waited for her to go under.

 

Once the dealer stopped moving, Piper rose to her feet, catching herself on the wall. The ground spun and even the wall didn’t help her much.

 

Someone else came into sight as Piper leaned her back against the wall. Hands grasped her chin, tilting her head up.

 

She came face to face with Kellogg.

 

“You made a mess of your nose.”

 

She smiled, blood smeared on her teeth. “Maybe, but I got the name.”

 

“Yeah, seems like you did.” He shook his head and tossed her arm over his shoulders, his arm wrapped around her waist. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

 

The way she leaned against him, the way he took the burden like he has no problem shouldering it, Piper decided that, right then, sounded like a great idea.

 

#

 

Kellogg wanted to throttle the girl. What the hell had she been thinking? She’d tried to headbutt the dealer and managed to break her own nose, not to forget the bodyguard he’d killed at the end of the alleyway. If he hadn’t been there to deal with the guard, they’d have come around that corner and killed her before she had a chance to aim her piss-poor gun.

 

He lifted her until she sat her ass on the vanity in the bathroom of the warehouse he’d taken in Goodneighbor.

 

She flinched when he used a wet rag to wipe up the blood that had poured down her face.

 

“Maybe this’ll teach you not to headbutt people, huh?”

 

“At least not people with such hard heads. Guess I shouldn’t try it with you, should I?”

 

“No, probably not. This is going to hurt, so take a deep breath.” He didn’t wait for her to answer before he pressed his fingers against the bridge of her nose and pressed, setting it. Before she could yell at him, and he expected her to yell, he jammed a stimpack into her arm.

 

“That hurt you-“

 

“-let’s not say something we’ll regret. Consider this payback for you running out on me and then ignoring me. Besides, you owe me a thank you. In case you weren’t paying attention, I took care of that bodyguard for you.”

 

Piper glared before offering a begrudging, “Thank you.”

 

Kellogg helped her off the vanity after he finished cleaning the blood from her face. He tugged softly at her wig, which slid beneath his pull. “The hair is new.”

 

“Do you like it?”

 

No, he fucking hated it. He missed her dark hair, the way it brought out her eyes. The white made her look like every other fucking girl out there, trying to be something she wasn't. But saying shit like that might get him kicked in the balls, so he softened it. “I prefer your normal hair.” He leaned down to grab two cold beers out of the ice chest in the corner. He pressed the side of one against her nose. “It’ll bring down the swelling.”

 

Piper took a seat on the couch, head back to let the cold beer numb the pain. “So, are you following me or something?”

 

“Nah. Believe it or not, I have shit to do that takes me all over the Commonwealth. Being able to save your ass was just a benefit.”

 

She tilted her head so she could look at him around the beer. “You said that kid isn’t yours.”

 

“You want to ask me something? Ask. Don’t beat around the bush. You’re too direct for that and I’m too old.”

 

“If he isn’t your kid, who is he?”

 

Kellogg took a drink of his beer as he let his arm rest on the back of the couch. “He’s sort of a family friend’s kid. I helped raise his Dad, so they stick me with him now and then.”

 

It brought back the memories of the real Shaun as a kid, the only family he really had anymore, of how empty his place felt with young Shaun went back to the Institute.

 

“Mercenary by day, babysitter by night?”

 

“Something like that. Can’t say I really mind, he’s a good kid. And you? You take care of that sister of yours all on your own?”

 

She sighed, taking the beer away from his nose. “Yeah. Our Dad died, so now it’s just her and I. I do the best I can, and when I’m not there, she stays with Ellie and Nick.”

 

“When you ain’t off chasing stories down?”

 

“Or having my nose broken by chem dealers?”

 

“Sorry, but you don’t get to pull that card. Chem dealer didn’t break your nose; you did that all on your own.” Kellogg nodded at the beer. “You know, you could drink that.”

 

“The last time I drank with you in the same town, I ended up in your bed. I’m not looking for a repeat of that mistake.”

 

His lips tilted up at the lie in her voice. Like he hadn’t seen her walk by his place how many times? Like she was sitting there, legs crossed, defensive as fuck because she wanted to get into his lap already. “Well, let’s put that worry to rest, huh? You’re sleeping in my bed tonight, sweetheart. You pissed off a big name here in Goodneighbor, and I don’t really want to wake up to hear you got your throat slit in that filthy radroach infested motel. So, we’re gonna talk, drink our beers, and then you’re going to crawl your tight ass into my bed for the night.”

 

“Do you always rig the game in your favor?”

 

“Always. If the game ain’t important enough to rig, it ain’t important enough to play.”

 

#

 

Piper stretched her feet out beneath the blanket, thankful for a warm, clean bed. Sure, it wasn’t her bed, but it was a hell of a lot better than anything she’d have found in the Rexford.

 

She’d stripped down to a large shirt Kellogg had supplied for her, though because of her height, it didn’t cover much below the line of her ass.

 

A fact Kellogg hadn’t missed the opportunity to point out.

 

His vulgarity had brought a blush to her cheeks and a stutter to her lips. How did he throw her off her game so easily? She was used to people saying whatever was on their minds and her responding in turn. She could handle anyone.

 

Anyone except Kellogg, who seemed to manage to shut her brain right off.

 

He sat on top of the blanket in just a pair of underwear, a book in his lap, the light on.

 

She’d expected him to try. . . something. Hell, she’d crawled into the bed planning all the ways to turn him down, to tell him what had happened was a one-time thing, that while she appreciated him helping her, she wasn’t going to sleep with him.

 

Then he didn’t even have the courtesy to try and get into her panties.

 

Rude. That’s what that was, just flat out rude.

 

“You know, I’ve been watching your newspaper. Never bothered with it before, figured my employer was watching it and they’d tell me if there was a problem. Ever since you yelled at me though, I’ve been reading it.” He didn’t look up from his book.

 

“Oh yeah? Did you think reading it would help get you into my pants or something?”

 

“Nope. Didn’t figure I needed help getting there again. I was curious if I’d see my name in that rag of yours, though. Wondered if you’d try to print all my dirty secrets you’d found. I mean, if what you think you know is true, seems like a pretty good story.”

 

And it was. She’d thought about it, of course. Taking down the Institute would be a big deal for her career, for the whole Commonwealth. The more she found out about Kellogg, the more she learned, the surer she was that he was wrapped up with the Institute.

 

“I don’t print rumors unless I can prove them,” she said instead.

 

“Liar. You’ve got enough to go on. I’ve seen you go on less before.”

 

She kicked his foot. “Are you asking me to write a story about you? I thought you’d enjoy your privacy.”

 

He kicked her back. “Curious, that’s all. For someone who runs down the truth like a rabid mutt, leaving this on the table doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

 

Piper brushed her fingers through her hair, glad to have the wig off. “You’d probably kill me if I printed all that.”

 

“Probably. I doubt that’d stop you if you wanted to, though.” He pulled the cigarette from his lips and offered it to her.

 

“I don’t smoke. You shouldn’t either, you know. It causes cancer.”

 

“I got an excellent health plan. Trust me, nothing as trivial as cancer is taking me out, not at this age.”

 

“And exactly how old are you, Mr. Kellogg?”

 

He clamped the cigarette between his lips. “About a hundred and eight.”

 

“Bullshit.”

 

He cocked up an eyebrow. “Nope. Born in 2179 in the good old New California Republic. I’ve had some help from my employer to keep me young, spry, and useful.”

 

“Young and useful being relative terms?”

 

“Ouch.” He didn’t sound insulted, that same general amusement filtering through his voice. Nothing seemed to phase him much, like the world just kept moving and he didn’t pay it any mind. “So, this nonsense normal for you?” He nodded at her nose.

 

“Yeah, pretty much. No good story happens without some blood. It’s the price of freedom.”

 

“And what are you going to do with that story? From what I saw of your skills, I wouldn’t suggest you go running off to Hangman’s Alley all on your own. I think that dealer might be right, and they’d have you gunned down before you got to bat those lashes of yours.”

 

She leaned against the wall beside Kellogg, her arm pressing against his. The warmth of his skin soaked into her. It was something she’d noticed, something strange. She spent so much time alone, she hadn’t even realized how much she’d missed touch. She’d missed something as simple as the warmth of another’s skin, the presence of someone else around. Nat lived with her, of course, but she had to take care of Nat. She had to worry about Nat, had to be strong for her.

 

She didn’t have to worry about Kellogg, didn’t have to be strong right then.

 

“My job isn’t to fix everything. People can save themselves, but they have to know the truth, and that’s what I give them. I’ll write the story, put out the paper, and people will deal with the problem.”

 

“You got a lot of faith in people.” He closed the book and set it on the nightstand. “In my experience, people don’t do shit unless they have to. If you don’t deal with the problem yourself, no one will. I promise you, in a month, that place’ll still be running and those kids’ll still be dying.”

 

“I’ve seen it. People don’t need to be saved, they just need the truth.”

 

He shook his head and slid beneath the cover, moving down until he laid flat. “Peddle that bullshit somewhere else. People as a whole are petty, fucked-up, selfish creatures. You can put out your little story, but no one is doing shit about it. Trust me.” He reached out and turned off the light, then rolled away so his back was to her.

 

Piper stared down at him, at the defensive way he laid, making a hell of a point of ignoring her. When it seemed he was done, she slid down and settled in.

 

He was wrong. She’d built her whole life, her career, her beliefs on him being wrong. Everything she believed in, everything she risked was on the idea that the truth could get people to act, that they cared if they just knew what they needed to know. His screwed up life couldn't change that, his cynicism. 

 

She’d prove him wrong; she had to. 


	4. Chapter 4

 Kellogg woke when Piper’s hand stroked over his front. During the night, she’d moved in behind him, her arm wrapping around his waist, her body pressed against his back.

 

He’d woken when she’d done it, since sleeping beside someone wasn’t anything normal for him. He fucked women, but he never slept beside them. Fuck that, he never knew when one would slit his throat.

 

Piper wouldn’t slit his throat. She might spill out all his secrets, which could be a hell of a lot more dangerous, but she wouldn’t hurt him, not physically.

 

Wasn’t her way.

 

So, when she’d curled against him, half-asleep and seeking, he’d let her. He’d done more than let her; really, he’d pulled that arm around him tighter and enjoyed the touch, drifting back off.

 

It meant when he woke a second time, when the touch of her hand had turned from thoughtless to purposeful, he was damned intrigued.

 

Yeah, she’d shown up at his place to ‘tell him off’ but she’d damned well known she was there to fuck him. Girl was too clever to not know she’d end up with her legs wrapped around him and be pretty fucking happy about it. Still, she’d done it that shy way, where she didn’t have to make a move, where she let him guide shit.

 

The way her nails scratched down his chest, over his stomach, that wasn’t letting him make the moves.

 

And why the fuck did he like that?

 

Kellogg had always been in control. Maybe not with his wife, not with Sarah. Nah, the woman had wrapped him around her finger and he’d been happy as fuck to be there. After her, though? Before her? Nah. He wanted to take, to control shit. Couldn’t trust people enough to let them have even an inch of leash around him.

 

Too dangerous.

 

Piper though? Fuck, he wanted to see that girl above him, her hands on his chest, pinning him down. He wanted to see that spark of lust, that power-hungry look people got when they tasted submission.

 

But, he wasn’t someone to submit, not easily. And not to just anyone, either. 

 

His groan rumbled from his chest, slow and lazy when her hand wrapped around his cock. 108 and he still woke up with morning wood. Guess some shit he wasn’t ever gonna outgrow.

 

Piper pressed her lips to his ear, pulling the lobe between her lips to suck.

 

“Nice fucking way to wake up.” Kellogg’s hips thrust his cock forward into her fist. “See, you should have stuck around last time instead of running out on me.”

 

She pulled at his lobe with her teeth before letting go, keeping her hand tight enough he could fuck into it. “Are you going to keep complaining about that forever?”

 

“Maybe. Depends on if you make it up to me.”

 

She huffed, warm breath spilling against his neck.

 

Kellogg reached a hand behind him to grasp her hip as he fucked into her hand. The thrusts were hard and without finesse, but fuck, that was the night thing about using her hand. Didn’t exactly need a lot of skill. The point was for him to get off, not to make anyone else happy. He could do that later, could spread out her thighs and feast until she did that nervous rambling thing that charmed him more than it should.

 

Her lips pressed to his shoulder, teeth scraping over the skin. The cloth of her shirt bunched in his hand like a tether.

 

He didn’t even fight the tightness in his balls, giving himself over to the tightness of her tight hand. He came, a lazy, easy orgasm. It wasn’t earth-shattering, it wasn’t a panting mess of sweat and hormones.

 

No, it was familiar. It reminded him of the mornings he’d spent with Sarah, the way they’d just enjoy the feeling of each other without rush. Maybe that urgency was missing, but something else equally potent sat in its place.

 

He shook away the thought as Piper thumbed over the head of his softening cock, catching the come that was still there. The rest was on his sheets, something he’d have to deal with and fucking wash.

 

Still, worth it.

 

He knocked away Piper’s hand when she squeezed softly. “Too fucking sensitive for that bullshit,” he muttered against her chuckle. Fucking brat.

 

Kellogg pulled the blanket off, maneuvering it to cover the spot. No one needed to lay in come.

 

Piper pulled back, those nerves of hers climbing now that she wasn’t safely hidden behind him. Her hair was messy, some sticking up in the back, a red mark on her cheek from where it had probably rested against her arm as she slept.

 

Fuck.

 

Something about the rumbled look of a woman who had slept the night in his bed.

 

Without the blanket, she had nothing to hide behind. Her legs drew together, bending at the knee, but like that didn’t give him a pretty good view anyway.

 

He leaned in and nipped her knee, then traced his tongue against the line where she’d locked ‘em together like a fucking vault door. “Come on, Ms. Wright. You keeping your sources close to the chest?”

 

“That’s not my sources.”

 

“Well, I won’t know for sure unless I get to inspect pretty fucking close.” He set his hands on her knees, thumbs pressing between them. He didn’t yank her legs apart, didn’t force ‘em. Instead, he leaned up and pressed kissed to her thighs where they were pressed together.

 

Slowly, kiss by kiss, her muscles relaxed and after a minute, she let him spread those thighs.

 

He shifted his body between her legs, his shoulders forcing her legs to open wider to make room. Goosebumps lifted on her thighs as he drug his hands up them, his head turned to press kisses and gentle bites up the insides of her thighs.

 

Low moans left her lips, each one cut off halfway through. Damn, he liked that place for her, where she was still fighting herself. It was like a great blowjob before getting to the main event. Yeah, getting her to the spot where she stopped worrying, that was fun, but he was a man who liked the chase, the fight, the challenge. Anything he could get too easily just wasn’t worth it.

 

“Well, for the first time, my trip to Goodneighbor was actually worth it.” Kellogg slipped his fingers into the crotch of her underwear and pulled them to the side. His other hand came forward to brush his thumb against her clit.

 

Her back arched up at the touch like a shock had gone through her. Always wound too tight.

 

“What about you? This trip working out for you?”

 

“Why do you insist on talking?”

 

“Because I like to see you struggle to think. You ain’t a woman who has trouble saying what she thinks any other time, so I like it when I can get you speechless.” He pushed his finger into her, enjoying the way her cunt tightened around him. Made him remember how she did that around his cock, the way her body gripped him.

 

Too bad he’d already gotten off. He’d have loved to have moved up her body and filled her up.

 

Kellogg leaned in, holding the underwear to the side with one hand, and rubbed the tip of his tongue against her clit. He didn’t go for ease, for working her up to it. Nah, not his way. He used his thumb to move the hood out of the way to work her clit directly.

 

Piper moved like a wildcat, her hips shifting, sometimes toward him, sometimes away.

 

He liked a chase, but he liked the kill as well. Kellogg tugged hard to break the underwear, not a difficult thing since not much clothing held up well, then pulled his finger from her cunt. He wrapped both hands around her hips and pinned her down as he latched his lips around her clit.

 

Her breath caught, a sound like she was gasping and drowning, something that wouldn’t have been sexy any other time right then had him ready for another round.

 

At least until a loud and familiar sound from downstairs had Piper pulling away and him groaning.

 

Shitty fucking timing.

 

#

 

Piper snapped her thighs shut and moved out of the bed, reaching for her clothing. “What was that?”

 

“Company,” was all Kellogg offered before he rolled out of bed as well. Slower than her, and not startled at all, which meant it wasn’t an enemy.

 

The sound had been like a clap of thunder, loud and quick.

 

Piper yanked her pants on, shooting Kellogg an annoyed glare when the jeans rubbed against her cunt since he’d ruined her underwear. Worse? Her clit was still swollen, still oversensitive and begging for just a little more. She’d almost been there, with the way his tongue had touched her, the way his hands had held her down. Now, each movement had the seams of her pants tormenting her clit.

 

Kellogg smirked. “Uncomfortable?”

 

“And whose fault is that?”

 

“Well, last I checked, it was you waking me up with your pretty little hand around my cock. I don’t think you got any high ground here.”

 

“Well, it was your ‘company’ that interrupted us.” She kept her voice low, hissing out the words. She didn’t bother changing back into her shirt from the day before, it was covered in blood. Instead, she just tucked in one side of the large shirt Kellogg had given her to sleep in. At least it was clean.

 

He chuckled as he buttoned his shirt. “Fair enough. So, after I get rid of ‘em, you going to spread your legs for me again? Let me make it up to you?”

 

Piper ran her fingers through her hair, trying to finger-comb the tangles out. “Not a chance. This was a momentary lapse of otherwise good judgment.”

 

“Two lapses. I’ve gotten into that cunt twice now.”

 

She tied her boots as she ignored the heat of her cheeks. “Two lapses. Fine. Aren’t you going to go see your company?”

 

He pressed a kiss to her forehead, lips wet from what she knew was herself. “Sure. Might as well, I doubt they’re leaving.”

 

#

 

Leaving Piper had been a test of self-discipline for Kellogg.

 

He wanted to yell ‘fuck off’ to whatever courser had decided to pay him a visit. Probably X6. It was usually X6. Still, if he did that, the courser would just walk up the stairs and have a full conversation with him while he was tonsil deep in Piper’s cunt, and she didn’t strike him as someone into that.

 

Sure enough, the stupid leather outfit, the sunglasses. All that bullshit met him down at the bottom of the stairs.

 

“What do you want?”

 

“I am going to leave the child with you, again.”

 

“Father get sick of dealing with him again?”

 

X6 tilted his head. “Does it matter? You are well paid for your services.”

 

“You sure Goodneighbor is the kind of place you want the kid?”

 

“No. My understanding is that you finished your work here. Father wishes you to take the child back to Diamond City.”

 

“And why is that? Seems like dragging a kid around out in the open is just asking for trouble. Could just bring him to Diamond City tomorrow once I’m bad.”

 

X6 shook his head. “You always ask for information not owed to you. You need to learn to take orders and fulfill missions without questions.”

 

“Sorry, you may be nothing but a dog on a chain for them, but I ain’t. I don’t do shit blind.”

 

“Very well. Father wishes the child to gain information and be exposed to a number of situations. As you know, in the Institute, we are limited in what he can experience. He feels that a trip like this would be relatively safe and impart information the child would have no ability to gain inside the Institute. He has a courser chip installed inside him which limits the risk. Are you finished asking questions yet?”

 

“For now, I guess.”

 

“Good.” X6 let his gaze drift up toward the ceiling, tilting his head to make the action clear despite his sunglasses. “Now, about the woman upstairs.”

 

“Bad choice of question. Who I fuck isn’t any of your business.”

 

“It is when you choose a well-known reporter who has a habit of causing problems for us already. Do you think it wise to risk any sort of relationship? We were, of course, aware of your first encounter. That one we overlooked as a one-time thing. This is now twice, and it makes Father nervous.”

 

“Well, Shaun can fuck up with his nerves. He pays me to do jobs for him, but that doesn’t buy him a slave. We clear?”

 

“I hope she doesn’t cause us any problems, for both your sake.” He turned his back before calling to the Institute. “This is X6-88. I am ready for the child to relay to my position.”

 

Coursers could radio in, to call for a relay anytime they wanted. Father never gave Kellogg that ability. Nah, he had to do dead drops then wait for a contact. Bullshit, but that was part of the leash they liked to keep him on.

 

They never really trusted him.

 

Even though he helped raise that fucking kid, he never trusted Kellogg. Guess it was fair, in the end.

 

Another loud crack of thunder, a flash of light enough for him to cover his eyes, and instead of X6 there, Shaun stood.

 

Piper came down the stairs, rushing like two times hearing that shit was one too many. When she caught sight of Shaun, she hesitated on the top step.

 

“Oh,” Shaun said as he looked over at Piper. “Ms. Wright. I’m, well . . .” He took a deep breath, then pulled his shoulders back. “I’m really sorry about kissing Nat.”

 

Piper stared at him, that hard face she used on the dealer, the one that was more spine than he’d have expected from her when he first saw her.

 

And the kid? Oh, how he wilted beneath that stare. Smart man, even at his age.

 

Because of how fucking sweet she could be, Piper melted just the same. Her glare softened until she tilted one side of those lips up. “I have since been told that’s what boys do when they see a pretty girl. I’ll let it slide, this time. I catch those lips of yours anywhere near her again, and I’ll dig up any secrets you have and print them.”

 

“I figured you’d say if I hurt her you’d do that.”

 

“Oh, no. If you hurt her, she’ll bury you outside Diamond City herself.” Piper winked once before stepping down from the last stair and moving into the room. “So, I guess I’ll get out of here.”

 

Kellogg caught her arm before she passed. “Not so fast, sweetheart. You headed back to Diamond City?”

 

“Yeah.” Her tongue drug across her bottom lip and it was a good damned thing the kid was there. If he weren’t, Kellogg would be trying to get inside her right then, especially knowing how fucking wet she probably still was

 

“Well, so are we. After the mess you got yourself into here, I ain’t exactly feeling real good about your survival skills.”

 

“So, what? You’re suggesting we go back together?”

 

“Beats going by yourself, don’t it?” He leaned in so only she could hear him. “I’d hate to see what unsavory people might do if they caught you.”

 

“From what I’ve seen, you might be the most dangerous thing out there.”

 

“To you?” He lifted an eyebrow before letting his gaze drift down her body, a slow leer full of promise. “Oh, that’s for sure.”


	5. Chapter 5

Piper sat across from the kid. Shaun, he’d introduced himself as. It was strange to see Kellogg in such a role. He didn’t hover as they crossed the distance between Goodneighbor and Diamond City, letting Shaun move around on his own, letting him pick up and examine things.

 

Even so, the moment Shaun neared anything dangerous, Kellogg was right there. It was clear that while he didn’t hover, he also paid close attention.

 

Shaun seemed to like scrap, but not just any. He liked pieces he thought he could take apart and fix. The kid was sweet, constantly asking questions that Kellogg answered no matter how many came his way.

 

The amount of patience surprised Piper. She’d expected him to be short, annoyed. Sure, sometimes he threw the kid warning looks, but they had a bit less edge than she’d have figured.

 

The trip took longer than it had on her own. She wasn’t overly skilled with a gun, but she was quick and quiet, which meant the trip only took a day for her. For them? With Shaun moving slowly and constantly wanting to see things?

 

It would take two.

 

It meant they set up in an old building when the sun started to drop and a radstorm had moved in.

 

“Is this safe, Mr. Kellogg?” Shaun shifted backward, toward the door, after they entered the building.

 

“Yeah, kid, it’s safe. Come on, I ain’t let anything happen to you yet.”

 

“But we aren’t ever out here like this. Father said there are raiders and super mutants.”

 

Kellogg rolled his eyes as he went about checking the room, looting anything useful. “Yeah, but those aren’t that big a deal, not for me. We’ll set up here for the night and get back, safe and sound, to Diamond City in the morning. Now, stay here with Piper until I clear the rest of the building.” He didn’t wait for a response before he headed toward the back, then up the stairs.

 

Something outside clattered from the wind as the radstorm raged. Shaun jumped, jerking toward the noise.

 

Where was he from that he'd react to a storm like this?

 

Sure, Nat had done this at two or three, crawling into Piper's bed since their father had been off working.

 

"It's just the wind."

 

"It's a radstorm, right?"

 

"Haven't you seen one before?"

 

He shook his head, but he didn't look at her. His gaze stayed on the wall like he could see past the walls, out into the storm. "We don't have these where I'm from. Can I see it?"

 

"Not a good idea. The walls here will keep us from taking too much radiation. If we went outside, we'd be okay, but it would make us sick pretty fast."

 

He frowned. The kid was quite the little scientist, wasn't he? Wanting to know everything, to learn whatever he could.

 

Piper was a sucker for kids who pouted. "How about this? Next time one rolls through town and you're there? I've got some rad-x. Well take some and you can see it up close."

 

"You would let me do that? Waste medicine on me? Why?"

 

She shrugged. "Not enough people are curious anymore. They figure out just enough to stay alive and call it good enough. I like your curiosity, I like that you want to figure things out. A little rad-x isn't a big deal to encourage some trouble."

 

Another crash outside had his eyes going wide and his back straight.

 

Piper patted the spot next to her. "Come sit down."

 

"I'm not scared," he said even as he moved toward her.

 

"I know."

 

He took the spot next to her, his thin arm resting against hers. "I'm never scared at home. Everything there is bright, and it's clean, and it makes sense."

 

The desire to ask where home was hit Piper, but she knew the answer already, didn't she? No reason to ask. Instead, she offered some comfort. "You know, I was around your age the first time I had to take a boat. The water wasn't that far, but some yao guai had created a den on one side, so we couldn't just walk around, and we didn't have enough rad-x to be able to swim across safely. So, my dad said we had to take a boat. Nat, she was just a baby. Mom held her, and the rocking of the boat kept her calm. Me though?" Piper shuddered at the memory of how the boat had swayed, the water splashing against the hull, the water in the boat. Her father had sworn that the water was only from the rain, that the boat wouldn’t sink, but Piper hadn't been able to shake the image of the boat going down and all of them disappearing into the water.

 

"What happened?"

 

Piper threw her arm around Shaun, pulling him to her side like she did with Nat. "Well, my dad took me up to the front of the boat, and he explained to me that new things are scary, but that doesn't make them dangerous. And even if they were dangerous, being scared doesn’t fix it, you've got to think it through. We made it across the water just fine, just like he said we would."

 

"And now you’re not scared of the water?"

 

"Oh, no, I still hate boats." Piper flashed him a grin. "But, if I need to get into a boat, you can trust that I'll get into it. Being afraid isn't bad, it's what we do with it that matters."

 

"Mr. Kellogg isn't afraid of anything."

 

"Well, kid, that's because he's really really really old. Trust me, if we knew him when he was younger, I bet he screamed like a little girl and ran away from radroaches."

 

Shaun twisted to look at her, his eyes wide enough the white was visible all the way around. "That's not possible."

 

Piper bumped him, casting him a grin. "Oh, I bet you anything. He screeched, he probably ran away. It was hilarious. If only we could have seen it."

 

He returned the conspiratorial grin. "He probably hid behind his mom."

 

"Oh, I'm sure. That's the thing, though. Everyone at your age is scared of some things. Don't worry about it, kid. You've got a lot of time to grow up, and that's something you should never try to rush."

 

Shaun nodded and curled into Piper's side, the movement slow like he expected her to snap at him.

 

She lifted her gaze as Shaun relaxed against her to find they weren't alone.

 

Kellogg leaned against the doorway, arms crossed, face careful. He said nothing, gaze moving between Shaun and Piper, lips pressed together.

 

When he met her gaze, his lips tilted up on one side, a smirk that she returned.

 

#

 

 

Kellogg leaned against the window so the smoke drifted outside.

 

"Shaun's asleep," Piper said as she walked into the room. "It's freezing in here. What are you doing?" She pulled her jacket around her tighter.

 

"I don't smoke around him. Ain't healthy for kids." He flicked ash out the window. "You're good with him."

 

"He's a good kid."

 

Kellogg set his free hand on her hip and pulled her over so she stood closer, between his legs, her back to his chest. "Even though he kissed your sister?"

 

"She could do worse."

 

"So could you."

 

"I'm not doing anything." The moment the word came out, she sputtered. "I didn't mean-"

 

"-You never mean it. Doesn't make me enjoy it any less when you ramble."

 

"He's from the Institute, isn't he?"

 

The question didn’t surprise him. He didn’t figure the secret would last long, not with that fucking reporter nosing around. "Yeah."

 

"And you just share that around?"

 

"Nah, but you're smart enough to have guessed it. No point in lying to you about it. Besides, you've got a soft spot for kids that's a mile wide. If you said shit to anyone, you'd put him at risk, and you ain't the type to do that."

 

"I didn't think Institute people came out for holiday like this."

 

Kellogg let his hand slide beneath her top, drifted up to cup her breast. "They don't. Shaun, he's a special case."

 

Piper tensed beneath his touch but didn't pull away. The way she fought with herself, the way she tried to pay attention even as he distracted her, he liked it.

 

"He's a synth, isn't he?"

 

"You got it that fast? I made it way too easy for you. Next time you try to get information from me, I'll make sure my dick is inside you, see how fast you can think then." He chuckled as his fingers captured her nipple, his thumb rubbing against it.

 

"Does he not know?"

 

"Nah. Prick scientists think that would ruin their experiment or some bullshit. So, they let him grow up sort of like a kid and sit back to see what happens."

 

She stilled in his grasp for a moment. "That's why you don't mind having him, isn't it? Because he gets to be a kid with you." She twisted her head to try and look at him, but with their positions, she could only cast him a side-long look. "Well, well Mr. Kellogg, that's sweeter than I'd have expected from you."

 

He huffed and flicked the cigarette out of the window. His fingers threaded through her hair in a tight grip, his lips against her ear. "I'm not sweet." He nipped her earlobe as his hand left her breast and dipped down into the front of her pants. "I thought you knew that, but it seems you're in need of some reminding."

 

 

#

 

Kellogg's fingers stroked against Piper's clit. The roughness of his calluses drew a shaky moan from her, her hand reaching behind her to steady herself by grasping the back of his neck.

 

"Told you I'd make it up to you as soon as I had you to myself." His tongue traced the shell of her ear, warm breath heating the skin that had grown chilly from the night's air.

 

"I wasn't holding my breath."  She tried to keep her voice strong, but the needy thread in it? He could damned well hear it.

 

"Hell, it'd take nothing short of a courser to get me out from between your legs. Kid wakes up, we're done for, though, so can you keep those pretty lips shut? I know silence ain't usually your thing, but maybe you've just never been properly motivated."

 

"You can go ahead and-"

 

Kellogg let go of her hair and wrapped the hand around her mouth. "Come on, now. You can behave for just a while, Ms. Wright." His palm ground against her clit while he fucked her with his fingers, slow and hindered by the material of her pants.

 

She gasped, her knees giving out at the rough touch. He twisted them so his ass rested more on the thick window sill, letting her sit in his lap.

 

Piper breathed through her nose, her head resting back on his shoulder. He rotated his wrist so the pressure to her clit was harder, more direct.

 

She spread her legs more, and it caused the pants to tighten around his hand and force his fingers deeper into her.

 

Piper moaned against his hand as she came around his fingers. Not that he let her off easy. He focused his attention on her clit, drawing out each wave of pleasure until she cried out against his hand.

 

His chuckle warmed her cheek when he pulled his fingers from her, extracting his hand from her pants. He caught her chin and twisted enough to capture her lips in a hard kiss.

 

Piper let herself fall into the kiss, into the strength of his hands and the touch of his lips. She forgot who he was, who she was, anything else.

 

She’d given up so many things in her life because of what she thought she needed to do. Why couldn't she have this one? Couldn't the Commonwealth take one for them, just this one, and let her have the man in front of her?

 

Kellogg broke the kiss, his finger swiping across her bottom lip. "Don't."

 

"Don’t what?"

 

"Don't wish for shit we can't have. We're both too smart for that. You said it yourself, this has an expiration date on it. Pretending differently won't change anything, except make it all hurt a lot fucking more."

 

Piper wanted to argue, but why? What was the point?

 

He was right. They didn't have a real future, didn't have any sort of chance. It was only a matter of time before it ended.

 

"Yeah, you're right." She pulled away from him.

 

Kellogg caught her hand and stood straight, pulling her back so she collided with his chest. He slid a hand behind her neck and tilted her face toward his. "It has an expiration date, but that ain't tonight."

 

She returned his smirk and then his kiss.

 

'Not tonight' was good enough for right then.


	6. Chapter 6

 Kellogg picked the lock to Piper's house, grumbling about her shitty security. He'd have to put in a better lock, the sort of shit it'd take more than thirty seconds to pick.

 

Nat was sleeping at that gen 2 reject's place, something he'd overheard earlier. Shaun was tinkering with shit, safe enough to stay on his own for the night. He liked giving the kid some space. He never got that shit in the Institute, always poked and prodded.

 

Three days had left Kellogg pretty fucking hard-up for some time with his reporter. He'd see her in town, but neither spoke, neither let on they knew each other at all.

 

It meant that Kellogg, a man who hadn't missed much of anything in the past fifty years, had found himself missing Piper.

 

He missed the way she rambled when nervous, the way her cheeks flushed when he was the one making her nervous, the smirk when she felt in her element. Fuck, he'd even missed the way she'd handled that fucking dealer, all bravado.

 

Girl might have a reckless streak, but that didn't make it any less sexy when she won.

 

The lock popped open, and Kellogg checked for anyone around once more before sliding into the dark house.

 

Nearly midnight meant the town was quiet, but Kellogg wasn't shocked to find Piper awake and hunched over her desk, papers spread out.

 

"You do realize breaking into people's houses is illegal, Mr. Kellogg?"

 

"If you had better locks, people might not break in."

 

She didn't lift her gaze, fingers running along the lines of text, a pen in her hand. "What I've learned is that locks keep honest people honest. I guess it's not a surprise they didn't keep you out."

 

He leaned his hip against her desk beside her. "Did you want the locks to keep me out? Because I'd bet you were awake hoping I'd pay you a visit. Never seen your place, you know."

 

Piper set her pen down and lifted her gaze. Yeah, she'd been expecting him. "That's why you're here? A tour?"

 

"Depends on what I'm touring." His lips pulled into a grin, eyebrow up.

 

Piper's chair screeched across the floor as she moved it over, so she sat in front of where Kellogg leaned against the desk. Her fingers, those fucking long fingers that had been working the paper and pen worked the button of his pants free.

 

"What'chya doing there?" He cocked up an eyebrow, palms resting on the desk.

 

"Investigating." She pulled the zipper down, then reached a hand into his pants. The warmth of her hand was a nice fucking feeling when she wrapped it around his cock and pulled him free.

 

"Pretty sure you've already done all your investigating there. Hate to tell you, but that is pretty much a one trick pony."

 

She leaned in and drug her tongue up the bottom of his cock, using the pointed tip and enough pressure for him to shudder. The smirk she gave him said she felt it. "What sort of reporter would I be if I didn't make sure?"

 

That's when he caught the whiff of scotch. Ah, that explained the banter. "You give yourself a little liquid courage?"

 

"I don't know what you're talking about." She slid her tongue along the head of his cock, then capture the pre-come that had escaped the tip.

 

Kellogg reached forward with one hand, sliding it into her hair, fisting it into a tight grasp. "Really? Because usually, the second my cock makes an appearance, you clam right up. All that snark turns into a rambling mess."

 

"Do you really think you're that intimidating?"

 

"My dick seems to be if the way you blush and run out means a thing."

 

She opened her mouth to argue, but he wasn't the sort of man to let a good opportunity go to waste. He used the grip on her hair to pull her in and slide into her mouth.

 

And who would have figured her mouth was good for more than talking? She responded with ease, those red lips wrapping around his cock, tucking her teeth away. Girl had done this a time or two.

 

Not that it made him jealous. Kellogg wasn't the sort to get jealous. Fuck, it thrilled him, the idea of her being adventurous, of her learning, of her just fucking enjoying.

 

Her hands went to his hips, thumbs pressing against his hipbones.

 

He didn't push her too far onto his cock. Although her seemed to know what she was doing, he wouldn't assume she'd ever learned to take much. He'd learned his lesson when he was still young, that push too much and you can end up with some girl puking on you, and that shit just ruined the mood.

 

Not that he had any complaints. Piper bobbed her head, tiny rocking motions as she used her tongue. She'd alternate between sucking, letting the head of his cock rub against the inside of her soft cheek, and pulled back a bit to use more tongue.

 

Maybe it was the sight of her lips around his cock, or maybe he was getting old, or maybe it was just the woman herself, but Kellogg yanked her off him quickly.

 

Piper frowned, that tempting pink tongue of hers darting out to lick clean her lip.

 

"Ain't interested in ending the night too fast," Kellogg explained before he pulled her to her feet and into a kiss.

 

She moaned against his lips, especially when he kept his hand tight in her hair.

 

"Alright, show me where the fuck you sleep in this place, huh?"

 

 

#

 

 

Piper tossed her coat over her dresser before she untucked her shirt. Kellogg had taken off his pants, had removed his shirt.

 

She stilled as her gaze ran over him. His hand tucked into his jacket pocket, body leaned forward.

 

She'd found he had no problems with nudity. He didn't strut, didn't show off. She'd met a few of them, the men who knew they were good looking and used it to their advantage. Kellogg wasn't that type.

 

He viewed his body as a tool, as something useful and ultimately worth only what it could do.

 

That tempted Piper more than all the arrogance would have.

 

"Well, well. I like that look."

 

Piper snapped her gaze up to his. Just how long had she been staring? Long enough that he'd set down the jacket and had a foil wrapper in his hand. "Aren't you optimistic?"

 

"I wasn't the one with my lips around someone's cock. Let's not play the blushing virgin now." He walked toward the bed, setting the condom on the nightstand before sitting on the bed. "Besides, I know you. I know your exact type."

 

Piper unfastened her pants and slid them off, Kellogg's gaze on her more potent than the scotch she'd drank earlier.

 

He made her feel wanted, made her feel sexy. Sexy wasn't something she'd ever felt. She'd always been loud, tall, opinionated, and too awkward to be anything close to some fantasy.

 

Yet, when Kellogg smirked, his hand resting on his lower stomach, his body stretched out on the bed, she damned well felt sexy.

 

Her hands went to her shirt, but he held a hand up. "Leave it on."

 

"What?" Her fingers hesitated, her courage draining.

 

Kellogg laughed, scooting down so he laid flat, head on the pillow, hand shifting down to cup his cock. "Yeah. I like my games sometimes, and you look good in that shirt, that prim and proper thing you got. I like the idea of reaching on under that shirt and pressing my fingers into you. It's sort of like a fucked up version of hide-and-seek, with a much better reward."

 

The words brought Piper's smile back. She came forward, sliding onto the bed and straddling his waist. She stayed down far enough that her cunt pressed against his thighs instead of his cock. "I wouldn't know; I’m not a deviant like you."

 

"Oh, I bet you are. A girl like you? You ain't the type to wait around for a man to satisfy you." Kellogg reached toward the nightstand.

 

She expected him to grab the condom, but he reached for the drawer instead.

 

His lips tipped up at the corner. "Locked? Good thing you got shitty locks, Ms. Wright." He pulled hard, the lock snapping.

 

Her cheeks heated as he reached in and pulled the item hidden there.

 

"Yeah, real fucking innocent, ain't you?" He lifted Piper's favorite toy, a dildo she'd found when searching through an old building, one that had gotten her through the long spans of time when she had no man in her life and no time for one-night-stands.

 

Kellogg cocked up an eyebrow as he looked at the toy, an arrogant smirk on his lips. "I think I beat this thing. Ain't too intimidated by it. What would I know, though? Maybe you should show me how you use it?"

 

"There is no way-"

 

Kellogg pushed the toy into Piper's hand, then lowered it until it dipped beneath her shirt."Come on, Piper. I know you don't need me. Let me see it."

 

That look in his eyes, the lust, the want, it had her shifting her weight up to her knees for more room. She took the toy and rubbed it across her cunt, dragging it over her clit.

 

He didn’t look at her face. No, his gaze was locked between her legs, even though the shirt blocked most of his view.

 

She rocked her hips, her free hand going to Kellogg's shoulder for balance.

 

"That's right, sweetheart. You know exactly how to get yourself there, don't you?"

 

Piper took her lip between her teeth as she brought the toy back, pressing it into her.

 

It slid into her, the welcome stretch and fullness causing her nails to dig into his shoulder. She moaned, the sound thin. If she were honest? She wished it was him, but that look in his eye? It kept her going.

 

Kellogg released a heavy breath, but he didn't touch her. Still, the muscles in his thighs twitched beneath her legs.

 

Piper twisted the toy as she used it to fuck herself, slow strokes while she angled it.

 

"You know, I like this. Don't know why, but I fucking love the idea of a woman who doesn't need me." Kellogg wrapped his hand tightly around his cock.

 

Piper leaned down, his lips taking his in a soft kiss. She somehow felt powerful, right then. Every word Kellogg said, every sound he made, they made her feel in control, reckless, everything she never got to be.

 

She raked her teeth over his bottom lip before she rested the base of the toy and her hand against Kellogg's upper leg to brace them. She moved her hips to ride the toy instead.

 

Kellogg reached forward, his free hand coming to her hip.

 

Piper wanted to play, though. She grasped his wrist and pushed it back to the bed, pinned him. He could easily break her hold. He was larger, stronger, heavier.

 

Instead of breaking it, he groaned a sinful sound that went straight to her clit. That sort of sound made her want to see what else she could do to him, what else she could draw from him. It was made better by the lift of his hips, a desperate jerk.

 

So, big, tough hardass Kellogg enjoyed a woman taking control?

 

It didn't shock her. Kellogg was a man who had to get the things he had by fighting for them. Of course, he liked it when someone else won, when he got to just lie back.

 

And. . . she liked it, too. She liked the way her hand wrapped around his wrist, pinning it to the bed. She liked the bulk of him, the man who so many feared, but there he was, all hers. At her mercy. Giving everything to her.

 

He stroked himself, fist bumping against her stomach at the top of each motion. "Always knew you'd be a ball buster." His voice held no censure and a lot of lust.

 

"Like you said, I don't need to wait for you to take care of me. Maybe you ruined my night."

 

He huffed out a rumbled laugh. "No, sweetheart, I didn't ruin shit. I can do better than some fucking toy."

 

"Maybe." Piper rose up until the toy was barely inside her before sliding back down, hips rolling at the bottom. Her fingers rubbed her clit since Kellogg’s leg kept the toy in place. The idea of using him like a toy had her close. "Maybe I'm happy enough on my own."

 

The words poured from her lips, spurred on by the quickening of his fist and the speeding of his breath.

 

And all of those things did more for Piper than her toy or her fingers. For a woman used to always feeling like the underdog, being in control felt damned nice.

 

She let her fingers dig into his wrist as she came, cunt tightening down around the toy.

 

Kellogg took the chance. He let go of his cock and grasped her toy, pulling it out and tossing it onto the nightstand. He grasped her hip and rolled them, then got up to his knees after grasping the condom.

 

The foil fluttered to the floor, and Piper rubbed her leg against his hip as Kellogg rolled the condom on.

 

He braced his weight above her and filled her in a hard thrust. "Oh, listen to that whine. You still want to tell me you don't need me?"

 

"You seem to like not being needed. You have some kinks you don't admit to?"

 

His breath warmed her ear as he laughed. "Like any man with a functioning dick wouldn't want to see you fuck yourself on a dildo. Come on, now. Try to hold on because I'll show you how it's done."

 

Piper gasped, arms wrapping around his shoulders as he set a brutal pace. He didn't work toward getting her off again. They were both too damned cynical to believe in all that coming at the same time nonsense. Sensitive as she was, the way each time his cock brushed against a good spot inside of her would set off aftershocks, she enjoyed just feeling him, too.

 

Her body would tighten down on him, and if he brushed her clit, she'd arch her back, but she got to just lie there and feel him. Something about being filled like this was different.

 

The toy got her off, always had, but being with another person, feeling their weight over her, taking each thrust they gave, it was different. Better.

 

Not that she'd ever admit it the arrogant jerk.

 

He buried his face in her hair as he came, cock twitching inside her, pace changing from deep, erratic thrusts to tiny, barely there pumps.

 

His lips moved, and she realized it was a kiss. The touch was soft and far too kind for whatever this was.

 

After a moment, he pulled out of her, earning another whimper from her, and rolled out of bed to get rid of the condom.

 

"You kicking me out?" He crossed his arms.

 

Piper considered it. She should ask him to leave, to keep this simple.

 

However, the idea of sleeping in an empty bed, in an empty house, just didn't appeal to her.

 

She rolled to her side to make room. "We have to wake up early, so you're out before Nat gets home."

 

Kellogg grinned before crawling into the bed beside her. "I think it's adorable you think I'm gonna let you sleep at all."

 

 

#

 

 

Kellogg woke up to something hard jamming him in the ribs. If he were a woman in bed with a man, that wouldn't be so upsetting.

 

He'd check Piper pretty well, though, and she didn't have anything that should be poking him that fucking early.

 

"Get up," Piper hissed into his ear.

 

He rolled over, a heavy flop so he could glare. "You want me up? Use your mouth next time. You'll get more of a reaction than elbowing me."

 

"The front door just opened."

 

That did get him up. Kellogg snatched his gun from the nightstand on his side of the bed, but he didn't have time to lift it before the intruder walked into sight.

 

Shit.

 

Nat stood, eyes wide. "Piper, who is this?"

 

Piper sat up and pulled at the edges of her shirt to keep her covered. "No one. Nothing. I thought you were staying at Nick's until lunchtime."

 

"Nick tried to cook breakfast and burned it all, so I came back to eat something." Nat's gaze turned on Kellogg, just as vicious as her sister's. "What are you doing here?"

 

Kellogg laughed. "You're what, twelve? Unless Piper here failed to tell you the birds and the bees, pretty sure you already know. Now, I ain't a fan of showing kids my goods, so why don't you give us a minute so I can dress, huh? Then we can talk this shit out."

 

Nat's eyes narrowed. "Don't talk to me like I'm a kid. This is my house, not yours. Piper, who is he? You have a boyfriend now?"

 

Piper rose from the bed, pulling on her pants, covered still from the shirt they'd left on the night before. "It's not like that."

 

"What, you're going to run off with him? Leave me alone here?"

 

Piper caught Nat's hand. "Nothing like that. He doesn't mean anything, I swear."

 

Ouch. Kellogg kept his face blank.

 

Nat yanked away. "Whatever, Piper. I'm going back to Nick's. At least there I don't walk in on strangers having sex."

 

Piper scrubbed her hands over her face when the front door slammed. She turned back around as Kellogg got out of the bed and dressed. "I'm sorry," she said. "I didn't think she'd be back-"

 

"-Don't worry about it." He knew his voice came out hard. Fuck, how many had he scared off with that voice alone?

 

He went to pass her, but she caught his arm. "Wait. Look-"

 

"-I said don't fucking worry about it, okay? I don't mean a fucking thing, right?"

 

"I didn't mean that."

 

He yanked out of her grip and slid his pistol into the holster at his hip. "Course you did. It's true, ain't it? This is just a stupid fucking hook-up we both should be too damned smart for. So, let's call it. See you around, Ms. Wright."

 

This time Piper moved into his way, pressing her back against the door. Fuck. How many people would dare try to keep him anywhere he didn’t want to stay?

 

“Move.”

 

“You can’t be mad at me that I don’t want my little sister to see me in bed with some man.”

 

“Some man? Fuck you. This shit may not be serious, but I introduced you to Shaun. I ain’t a toy you can shove in that fucking nightstand whenever you don’t need me.”

 

“You’re being childish.”

 

“I’m 108, I’m allowed to be childish. Now, move.” He let his voice drop more, growling out the demand.

 

Still, not a speck of fear showed in those damned eyes. Nope, not Piper. Too fucking foolish to know when to be scared. Still, she moved away from the door, saying nothing else. No apology. No ‘I’m sorry for treating you like a walking dildo.’ Nothing.

 

Kellogg slammed the fucking door even harder than Nat had.

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

Piper was a bitch.

 

She'd love to pretend it wasn't true, but she knew herself well enough. She could be catty, quick to judgment, and downright mean when she wanted to be.

 

Not that she'd wanted to be with Kellogg. Whatever that was, it was something new, something she'd never dealt with.

 

It had been easy to call it simple fun when it was just the two of them, and yet just as easy to start thinking of a future.

 

What sort of future, she didn't know. He wasn't the sort she could bring around friends. She'd only imagine Nick's face if he ever figured out who Kellogg was, and that Piper had been sleeping with him.

 

Like any good pseudo-brother, Nick would get protective and snarky and be ready to bury Kellogg.

 

But when Nat had stood there, and Piper hadn't had a story ready, hadn't been ready to deal with questions at all, she'd panicked.

 

She couldn't run physically, as was her normal strategy, so she'd run in another way by dismissing Kellogg altogether.

 

Who would have thought the merc would get his panties bunched so easily?

 

And they had been bunched. It had shown in the hardness of his face, in the snap of his words, and in the slam of the door.

 

She'd gone to his place the next night, but he'd been gone. Where, she had no idea, but just gone.

 

Add to her troubles, she'd left the city to meet with a source only to return the next day to a locked gate and a guard who refused to let her in.

 

"You can't just leave me out here!"

 

"Sorry, Piper, but the mayor is really steamed about the things you wrote about him," the voice over the intercom said. “He says they’re all lies.”

 

Piper slammed her fist against the door. Sure, she knew she'd get in. They couldn't lock the gate forever. This was just the mayor making a point to her, a point that she wasn't in charge, that she needed to play nice.

 

Not that she would. Playing nice might make her friends, but she'd rather the truth over friends any day. The truth let her sleep at night. 

 

The squeak of boots behind her had Piper turning to find a vault-dweller strolling up, rifle over his shoulder, a far less fish-outta-water look on his face than she'd expect from a vaultie.

 

"Hey, you wanting in?" She hiked a thumb over her shoulder toward the door.

 

"I just got here, but yeah, I want in."

 

Piper winked before turning back to the intercom. "What, you're a trader up from Quincy with enough supplied to keep the general store stocked for a whole month? You hear that, Danny? You going to let us in or are you going to be the one to explain to crazy Myrna about missing out on all these supplies?"

 

A heavy sigh came through the intercom that had Piper grinning. Danny was a sweet kid, but easy to manipulate. "Why you have to make it personal, Piper? Fine, I'll open the gate."

 

The gears groaned on the heavy door as Piper turned to face the vault dweller again. "Let's hurry on in before they catch on."

 

He caught her arm before she could turn. "Should I know why I helped you get into the city? Because from what I've seen, people get kicked out for a reason."

 

"Afraid I'm dangerous?"

 

"I'm afraid you're a criminal."

 

Piper laughed at the way his eyebrow lifted. He was handsome, she supposed. Clean-cut, late twenties, perhaps. He seemed too perfect, really. If the vault suit didn't tell her he was new to the wasteland, the lack of scars would have.

 

A few months ago, Piper would have jumped at the chance to awkwardly flirt with him. Now though?

 

Damn it, all she could think about was Kellogg. Anyone would say this man was far more handsome, and yet Piper couldn't manage the faintest interest.

 

"Not a criminal, just a nuisance," Piper said before pulling away and strolling in.

 

After a quick face off against the mayor who caved beneath the newcomer's icy stare, she was back into the city. Hell, if Piper weren't pretty sure she'd get along with the man, she'd have wilted, too.

 

A missing kid, he'd said, so Piper asked him to stop by. Talk about a great article, the ability to write about a man who was obviously new, who had fresh eyes to the Commonwealth, who was taking on the entire wasteland to find a missing child?

 

He'd promised to stop in for an interview before he left town.

 

Piper went to her door, ready to prepare questions. She twisted the handle and stepped forward, only to slam her face against the door.

 

She stumbled backward, hands flying to her face.

 

No blood.

 

"Son of a-"

 

"-Piper!" Arturo rushed over from his stand. "Are you okay?"

 

"Yeah. Why is the door locked? I only lock it at night."

 

"Someone was here while you were gone. They changed the locks."

 

"What? Who changed the locks?"

 

Arturo held a key out for her. "A man. He said you hired him, that your old lock was 'shitty.' He left your new key with me."

 

"I didn't hire anyone. What did he look like?"

 

Arturo shrugged. "Bald. Scar on his cheek. Unpleasant."

 

Kellogg.

 

Piper took the key, grasping it in her hand, thinking about Kellogg there putting in a new lock even after what she'd said.

 

When she used the key to open the lock, she realized he hadn't been playing around. No one she knew could pick a lock like this. Once inside, she found a security system as well, complete with turrets on the ceiling and a terminal by her bed. The same lock was on the roof access door, leaving her and Nat better protected than they'd ever been in their lives.

 

She sat down at her desk to write the questions, to prepare for her interview with the vault dweller, but she couldn't focus.

 

All she could think about was Kellogg.

 

 

#

 

Kellogg sat across from the stupid fucker in Bunker Hill. He got his information from a lot of people, most of them shady assholes he'd rather not see, but they had the information he needed.

 

In this case, what he needed was to know more about a specific blue-clad vault dweller who was rebuilding the Minutemen.

 

Didn't take much to suspect exactly who they were, not when he heard they were setting things up in Sanctuary.

 

Who else would want anything to do with that little piece-of-shit graveyard but his old friend?

 

"Yeah, man, he's like, I don't know, super tough. Heard he took out all of Corvega plant, and that had some tough people in it."

 

Kellogg sat back, nodding. He'd know a few of the raiders in there by reputation. It meant the vault-dweller was tough and smart.

 

And coming for Kellogg.

 

No way someone woke up and started rearranging the whole damned world without a good reason. Looking for the man who killed their wife and stole their kid was a hell of a reason.

 

Hell of a reason or not, Kellogg had lived too long just to roll over. He wasn't about to just sit still and let the fucker kill him.

 

Kellogg had done the job he was hired to do. Right or wrong didn't matter anymore and after sixty damned years? It was well past time to get over that.

 

"Keep tabs on him and send me the information. I need to know everything I can about him."

 

"Right, yeah, sure." The man twitched, fingers tapping on the table, leg bouncing. Fucking junkie. "Normal payment? Yeah? Right?"

 

Kellogg sneered but nodded. "Of course. Ham will have your payment at Goodneighbor. You can leave him the information you have."

 

"Good. Good. You're a good guy; you know that?" He reached out the grasp Kellogg's arm.

 

The expression on Kellogg's face must have made him rethink it because the junkie pulled back.

 

"Get out of here." Kellogg jerked his head toward the door, and the man went running.

 

Another problem.

 

Always another fucking problem.

 

Not that it shocked him, his life was filled with problems.

 

At least they distracted him.

 

What he really wanted was Piper across from him. He wanted to forget all the bullshit between them, his anger having subsided in his time away.

 

He had been acting like a child, pissed over the truth. If a courser had been there, he'd have said Piper was no one, too. They both had too fucking much to lose by admitting shit to anyone.

 

Sure, it stung. The sting was more from what he wanted to be than being pissed by what he was. He wasn't anyone to her, but he wanted to be.

 

Too bad he knew he couldn't be.

 

Just wasn't headed that way. He'd already risked her too much, already made her a target. Any more and the Institute would start taking an interest in her, and he didn't want that. They’d let it go so far because they needed him, but he wasn’t a fool. They hadn’t stayed hidden all these years by being lax with their security. If they thought for a moment she was a danger to them, she’d be killed and likely replaced.

 

When he'd set up defenses in her house, he'd known they were only partly for the enemies she'd made on her own. The other things? The way he'd set them up to counter a courser’s training? Yeah, he'd done it to give her a chance in case father sent someone after her.

 

He rubbed his palm against his face as he resigned himself to leave her alone. The last thing he needed was to risk her any more than he already had.

 

She deserved a lot fucking more.

 

 #

 

Piper hated Bunker Hill. The entire place was full of corruption. Worse than Diamond City.

 

Instead of dealing with the problem, Bunker Hill paid off the raiders to keep their caravans going.

 

Sure, it kept the raiders from killing anyone nearby, but it only made the problem worse everywhere else. They poured money into the raider gangs, giving them the ability to better gear and unleash more havoc elsewhere.

 

It was selling the rest of the commonwealth down the river just for their own little plot of peace.

 

Still, Piper knew damned well Kellogg was there. She had more than her share of sources through the area to find him.

 

For the front man in a shadowy organization, he sure showed his face around without too much care. Maybe he just knew he never left enough people alive who knew his face?

 

Piper had sat there with Nate, done the interview. She'd listen to his story, to the way someone had killed his wife, stolen his child.

 

Guess that explained his quiet nature, his single-minded focus. The man was clearly mostly walking anger, and Piper was damned glad she wasn't in the way of his warpath.

 

She even pitied the man who'd shot Nate's wife, because whoever it was, they had hell chasing them down. They deserved what they were getting, sure, but it was like seeing some tossed into a deathclaw pit. Only one way that was ending and no one wanted to watch it.

 

Across the way, leaning over the counter, was an ass she'd had trouble forgetting. In fact, for the first time, she got to just watch Kellogg.

 

He was looking over a pistol mod on the counter, fingers sliding over the item, eyes narrowed.

 

Piper walked up to him, setting her elbows on the counter to mirror his stance.

 

He froze but didn't look at her. "What are you doing here?"

 

"Someone did some renovations on my place. Know anything about that?"

 

He reached into his pocket and withdrew caps, pushing them across the counter to the shopkeep. "Nope. Probably a good thing, though. Heard you had shitty security in that place."

 

"See, that's the thing, it was terrible. I didn't have anyone who would care about that, though. The only person who might have cared ran away."

 

"Maybe that person had a fucking life of their own to get back to. Not like you were offering shit."

 

Piper sighed and turned to face Kellogg. "What if I was."

 

"Was what?"

 

"What if I was offering something. Would they stop pouting?"

 

Kellogg turned toward her, rising to his full height. "I wasn’t pouting. And what is it you're offering?"

 

Piper slipped her fingers into the front of his pants, just past his belt. "Let me show you?"

 

"Pretty sure we've done that already. Not anything new."

 

Piper tugged until Kellogg took a step toward her. "Either turn me down or show me to your room."

 

She spoke the words with a confidence she didn't feel. He might turn her down, might send her packing back to Diamond City with her tail between her legs. So far he'd chased, and she'd given in. That was their routine. This time she pursued, but he might just bare his teeth and scare her off.

 

Instead, he nodded toward the Inn. "Let's take this conversation to a more private place." He leaned in closer until his lips brushed her ear. "Then we can see exactly what you're offering me, Ms. Wright."

 


	8. Chapter 8

 

Kellogg locked the door to the room. Fuck, how many times were they gonna do this shit? Just inns and rooms they didn't care about and quickies that happened because one or both were pissed.

 

Right then he was exhausted by it. Not that he'd turn her down, fuck that. He was too selfish for that shit. If Piper took those clothes off, he was going to do his best to get inside her.

 

Until that thought had him tensing. "Fuck."

 

Piper paused, her coat half-way to the table. "What?"

 

Kellogg ran his hand over his head. "Can't fuck you."

 

"Why not?"

 

"Ain't got a condom. Didn't bring any."

 

She finished putting the coat down, pulling in a sharp breath like she'd been worried. "You had one every other time. I figured you carried them with you all the time."

 

"Well yeah, I used to carry 'em. But since you weren't showing up, I didn't think I needed any." He snapped his mouth shut at the implication there.

 

Damn it. He was usually better at not giving anything away.

 

And leave it to Piper to put that shit together. Her lips tipped up into a hell of a smirk. "Are you telling me that if you're not having sex with me, you don't think you need to carry condoms?"

 

"I ain't saying shit."

 

She came over to him and set her fingers on his chest, then walked them down the front of his shirt to the zipper of his jacket. "I think, Mr. Kellogg, that you're saying something. Perhaps that you're both not having sex with anyone else, and also not planning on it."

 

"That doesn't sound like me."

 

Piper's fingers closed around the zipper and pulled it down, the jacket opening as she went. "No, it doesn't, and that makes it all the more interested."

 

He pulled her top up, so it came free of where she'd tucked it into her pants, then slid his hand beneath the shirt to touch her lower back directly. He pulled her against him. "I'm starting to see why so many people want you dead. You can be quite the pain in the ass. Doesn't change that I still can't fuck you."

 

"Can't you just pull out?" Her voice dropped, eyes darting away as she asked. How she managed to be both vixen and shy, he had no idea.

 

"No. I don't risk that shit, not for anything. Kid's ain't something you fuck around with. Without a condom, my dick goes nowhere near your cunt. I'm a hardass when it comes to this."

 

She took her lip between her teeth before she lifted her gaze to his. "Okay, we won't have sex. That doesn't mean we can't do anything, though."

 

The way her teeth worried her lip, the way her skin turned white from the pressure, the white against the pink of her lips, it had him fantasizing about all the things she could mean.

 

He leaned down, grasped her thighs, and hoisted them up around his waist.

 

Piper laughed, sliding her arms around his shoulders. She wasn't all the much shorter than he was, but he liked that he could lift her with ease, and he fucking loved the way she clung to him when he did. "So, is this more angry sex?"

 

Kellogg dropped her onto the bed, crawling over her. "Ain't angry. A little sick of doing that. That okay with you?"

 

Piper slipped a hand behind his neck and pulled him down to her lips. The kiss she offered wasn't frantic, wasn't rushed. Her fingers stroked the back of his neck, gentle and sweet.

 

He hadn't felt like this since. . .

 

No.

 

He shoved the memories away, the times his wife had touched him like that, like he'd meant something.

 

Piper teased his bottom lip with her tongue until he parted his lips for her.

 

Her free hand pushed at his jacket, so he braced his weight with his knees so he could work the heavy coat off. It thudded to the floor, forgotten in the moment.

 

She drug her fingers over the side of his neck, then used both hands to work the buttons of his shirt. Once she'd gotten them all free, Kellogg worked the shirt off, too.

 

Piper broke the kiss, gaze dropping down between them as she ran her hands down his chest.

 

The scars bothered him.

 

Not the ones from the wounds he'd had. Those he was fine with. Those were shit he'd survived. Bullets meant to kill him that he'd beat, knife wounds that people had thought would end him but hadn't.

 

No, it was the ones from the shit the Institute had put into him he hated.

 

The scars along the back of his neck from the implants in his fucking brain. The ones over his shoulder from the metal in his arm. The long one down his spine.

 

So many white scars that made him feel like a fucking science experiment.

 

Piper's fingers found the one at his shoulder. "Did this hurt?"

 

"Wouldn't know. They put me out for it."

 

She traced the scar. "It bothers you."

 

"You know polite people don't dig at shit when other people bury it."

 

"Good thing neither of us are polite."

 

He laughed at that shit. "True enough. Yeah, it fucking bothers me."

 

"So, why did you do it?"

 

"Because it was that or dying. Wasn't interested in dying. I've fucked up too many times to look forward to whatever afterlife is waiting for a man like me."

 

"Have you really done things that bad?"

 

Kellogg rolled his shoulder to knock her hand free, then caught her chin so she looked at him. "Yeah, I have. I ain't about to lie to you. I've done some bad shit over the years. That reputation of mine, trust me, I earned it by spilling a lot of blood, by doing a lot of things for a lot of caps. That's me, Piper."

 

She reached up to set her hands on his cheeks. "I don't care what you've done. You're more than you think you are."

 

The words sunk into him like water on desert sands, soaking into the cracks of him, into the hardened bits from years of doing what he had to do no matter what. No one had said shit like that to him since his wife.

 

He let that thought stay that time, held it close as he took her lips in a harder kiss. His fingers flicked open the buttons on her shirt, then did the same with her pants. He broke the kiss only long enough to pull her shirt off then slip her pants free. No bra, fucking perfect. He leaned in and captured a nipple between his lips, lavishing attention on it while he slid his arm behind her back to keep her close.

 

Piper moaned, the sound better than any whore, and one-night-stand he'd had. Those frustrating fingers of hers worked open the button on his pants before she shoved a hand down the front of them.

 

He liked her excited, liked her anxious instead of angry. His hips thrust forward when her hand wrapped around his cock, so he released her nipple to groan.

 

Piper stroked his cock, hand tight because of his pants.

 

"Lot better fucking night than I thought I was gonna have."

 

She smiled, a soft grin that had him already ready to smile back at her. "Good. I'd hate to think I made the night worse."

 

He sat up, pulling her hand free from his pants. "Roll over, sweetheart."

 

His boots hit the ground beside his jacket before he pulled his pants off. None of that mattered, not when he got a good look at Piper.

 

Girl might hide her shit under that coat and hat, but she had a nice fucking body. The sort he liked, the sort he wasn't afraid of breaking.

 

Even better when she moved onto all fours for him and twisted her head to look over a shoulder at him. That spark of unease? Oh, he liked that.

 

Nothing like a girl realizing she was in over her head.

 

Kellogg fisted his cock, stroking it slowly as his gaze roamed her, both to take in the view and to unnerve her some more.

 

Her hips shifted, gaze locked on his hand. The pink of her tongue drug across her bottom lip in a blatant tease.

 

He moved forward and knelt on the bed behind her.

 

Piper's head shifted forward again, probably hiding. "I thought you weren't going to have sex with me."

 

"I ain't." He released his cock to stroke his hands up her thighs, then grasp her ass, one cheek in each palm. He squeezed then spread them, thumbs sliding between them. He pressed one thumb against her ass, not enough to push into her, just enough to get his point across. "Can't knock you up like this."

 

"Especially because there is no chance I'm letting you do that." She tensed against his finger but didn't pull away.

 

Brave girl. He chuckled and removed his thumb, enjoying one last look before moving his hands down again. "Fair enough. Didn't figure you'd let me. A tight-ass like you? Doubt you got enough experience to let me ass-fuck you anyway. Got another plan."

 

"What-" Her words broke off when he shifted forward.

 

He fit his cock between her thighs, and she seemed to get the idea because she tightened them. He knew he rubbed against her clit, especially with that little gasp when he grasped her hips and thrust.

 

"Oh, I think this'll work just fine." He released a soft chuckled as he rocked forward.

 

Piper's hips shifted, her back angling so he ground against her clit harder. Good girl. Nothing better than a girl willing to take some responsibility for her own pleasure.

 

Kellogg held her hips, fingers tight, using the grip to pull her back into each of his thrust. "I'm glad you found me. A little pissed you could find me, but getting on all four tends to make me pretty forgiving."

 

"You weren't that hard to find."

 

"Ain't never been found before. Maybe other people are just smart enough not to try."

 

She twisted her neck again to look at him. "Maybe I knew I'd get exactly what I wanted when I found you."

 

He moved one hand from her hip, angled his body to the side, and brought the hand down in a hard spank on the outside of her ass cheek.

 

Piper's head snapped forward, a whine on her lips he knew she'd rather have not made. No, Piper wouldn't want to make sounds like that.

 

 

#

 

Piper pressed her lips together to silence that whine. Damn it. She was supposed to be calm, cool, in control.

 

Not whining when Kellogg spanked her. Those were the actions of some strumpet, not Piper Wright.

 

"Don't do that again."

 

"But you sound so pretty when I do." He replaced his hand on her hip, telling her he'd listened.

 

Then again, no matter the hard-ass way he acted, he'd always respected her no. When he'd suggested anal, he'd taken her no without hesitation.

 

She'd dealt with so many men who pushed, who demanded, who manipulated.

 

Kellogg didn't do that, didn't push her into shit.

 

It made her feel safer, even though she wasn't sure that was something she should feel around this man.

 

His words rang in her head, making her wonder, what exactly had he done?

 

Did she even want to know, or was she willing to turn a blind eye? Piper Wright, a reporter who left nothing secret, was willing to pretend she didn't know?

 

"You ain't paying attention to me. That's pretty rude." Kellogg pressed his hips up, making his cock rub harder against her clit.

 

Her hands curled into the blanket at the rough touch, but hell if it did drive her wild.

 

Everything he did made her feel like that. Out of control for the first time. Sure, she'd done crazy things for stories but never been crazy for her.

 

This was for her. Not for a story, or for Nat, or for anyone else. She was able to do something foolish just because she wanted to.

 

"Better," he growled behind her, voice low, as he kept up the same movement. Every thrust had him dragging against her clit, and his hands kept her still for the action.

 

Her breathing sped up, eyes closing as she gave herself over to the feeling.

 

"You got any idea how good you look?" His rough voice poured the praise over her. Who'd have figured he was a talker? Still, she loved it, the way that whiskey-drenched voice spilled such filthy words. "Your cunt would have been better, but we can get back to that next time. Trust me, I ain't ever going anywhere without condoms again. You're too fucking sneaky to trust you ain't gonna just show up somewhere. Never gonna be unprepared again." His hips snapped forward, body pressing against hers.

 

Piper's body wound tighter, each stroke almost too much until she came. Her head flew back, legs tightening around him, breath sticking in her lungs as her muscles tensed. Kellogg planted a hand between her shoulder blades and pushed her down flat onto her stomach. He blanketed her with his body, his chest hot against her back, his breath blowing strands of hair from her face.

 

He thrust forward, fucking into the tightness of her thighs. The bed kept her still so he could take her harder, getting the friction and speed he wanted.

 

He slid a hand into her hair to tilt her head enough to kiss her. It wasn't much of a kiss, the angle awkward, but he kissed her like he couldn't not kiss her, like he needed it.

 

He broke the kiss when his breathing stuttered, his thrusts losing their even rhythm. He pushed forward until his pelvis pressed tight against her ass and warmth spilled between her thighs as he came.

 

He peppered kisses over her cheek, her neck. After a moment, he pulled back with an unhappy groan. "Nice thing about the condoms is they leave less mess," he muttered before leaning over the edge of the bed and fishing a rag from his pack.

 

Piper took the rag, rolling to find the come on the bed and between her thighs. She wiped it off, though a wet spot remained on the sheets.

 

Kellogg tossed a towel over the spot before lying on his back on the bed. His arm draped across the bed, an obvious offer.

 

An offer Piper wanted to take.

 

She set her head on his arm and curled into his warmth.

 

Neither spoke for a while, their breathing slowing, the sweat cooling as the sun dropped.

 

"I had a kid."

 

Piper frowned but didn't respond, didn't look at him. She knew he'd shut up if she did.

 

Another moment of silence and he continued. "It's why I don't fuck with risking it. I can't risk that, not again."

 

"What happened?"

 

"Had enemies, and those enemies decided to target my wife and my daughter. They slaughtered them both to teach me a lesson. Only shit I learned was revenge doesn't make you feel any better and kids are a weakness I can't have."

 

Piper said nothing at first. She knew saying I'm sorry wouldn't go over well. Kellogg wasn't the type to want anyone's sympathy. Instead, she pressed a kiss to his chest to try and say what he didn't want to hear.

 

"My employer won't be happy about this, you know. My spending time with a reporter ain't about to go over well."

 

"I'm not quitting."

 

"Wouldn't work anyway. You've already made too many enemies. You silent just means you're working on a story. If you dropped off the map, I’d bet they’d want you out of the way just to be safe."

 

She slung a leg over his thigh, using the warmth of his body to keep the chill of the conversation away. "Couldn't you quit?"

 

"Ain't got the type of job I can just up and quit. The only way you get out is with a bullet. I try to leave, I've got a lifelong courser on my ass. Nah, can't quit."

 

"So what are we doing?"

 

He tightened his arm around her, pulling her closer. "We're doing whatever we want. 108 years old and I'm not dead. Deathclaws and raiders and the whole damned wasteland on my ass and I'm not dead. I haven't wanted shit in a long time, but you know what? I want you."

 

"What about the Institute?"

 

He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "They can fuck themselves if they don't like it."


	9. Chapter 9

 

Nate pacing would put anyone on edge. The roll of his shoulders, the dare in his stance, the energy that poured off him. Piper had survived by reading people, and Nate was the sort of person you wanted to give room to.

"You're wearing a hole in the floor, Blue." Piper tried for humor, but Nate only tossed an annoyed glare her way.

He'd gone and brought Nick back. Piper would have done it, but Ellie hadn't told her he'd gone missing. Probably worried about Piper getting herself into a mess and having no one to pull Piper's ass out of it.

"Just sit down and tell me what I need to know, kid." Nick took his seat at the desk, the voice of reason he always was. How many times had Piper watched Nick talk people down form the impossible?

Piper leaned against the door as she tried to focus on the case at hand.

A missing kid mattered. Too many people went missing in the Commonwealth, and too few times did someone care. At least this father was doing something about it.

What would Kellogg do if his kid went missing? She could picture that hard look that crossed his face, could see how he'd tear apart the world just to find them.

He hadn't been able to find them, though. His real kid and his wife had died, murdered by people after him.

His gruff attitude, some of the things he'd been willing to do, it all made a little more sense. Kellogg saw the worst in the people because he'd seen the worst in the world. He'd seen what people did, what they'd take if they could.

What sort of father would he be? The idea of him holding a baby, of him tucking an in infant into a crib, she couldn't picture it.

Then again, she thought about Shaun, about how Kellogg had treated the kid, his patience.

Maybe he wouldn't have been such a bad father.

"A scar you say?" Nick's voice drew her back to their conversation. "The man who shot your wife had a scar? Was he bald?"

Piper's lips pressed together. No. . .

Nate nodded. "Yeah, that's what the fucker looked like."

"You hear the name Kellogg?"

"Yeah, along with their birthdates and social security numbers."

Nick flicked ash into the cup on his desk. "Alright, smart-ass. It can't be a coincidence, though. Sounds just like a man who was in town, right Ellie?"

Ellie leaned against her desk. "The man who rented that house in the upper stands, right? He had a kid with him."

Nate stood, chair knocking backward. "A kid? That's Shaun; it has to be."

Shaun? Kellogg said Shaun was a synth. Had he lied to her?

"Wait a minute there. You're looking for an infant. That kid was at least ten. It could be his own kid."

Nate frowned, his lips pressing together. He shook his head. "I don't know how, I just know it has to be him."

Nick twisted toward Ellie. "When was the last time Kellogg was in town?"

"A week, I think?"

Nate set his hand on his pistol. "We'll set up a little welcome back party for him. When that asshole shows up, he's mine." Nate turned, eyes falling on Piper. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Piper tried to keep her face with the same charming snark she normally wore. Don't let him see. "Sure. What's up, Blue?"

He nodded toward the door. "How about we talk at your place?"

Did he know? Was he going to interrogate her? Kill her?

Piper wasn't about to tell him about Kellogg, not without talking to him first.

It had to be a misunderstanding. It didn't make any sense. Kellogg had done some terrible things, but the idea that he’d murder a woman in cold blood? That he’d steal someone’s child after what he’d been through?

Piper refused to believe it.

She tried to hide the unease as they crossed the short distance to her place. Nat was out, which was the only good thing.

Nate shut the door behind him.

Was this it?

Piper plastered on a smile. "So, Blue, what did you need?"

He turned toward her, face having lost the edge it had before. Maybe he wasn't about to kill her. "I just wanted to say thank you, I guess. I know I'm not an easy person to deal with, but you've been straight with me. Adjusting here, to all of this, it isn't easy. I haven't met a lot of people who seem to just want to put the truth out there, who want to help people and fix things." He ran his hands over his face. "I wasn't all that nice to you before, not nice to a lot of people, but you've proven you're a good friend." He stuck his hand out to her. "Thanks, Piper."

She reached out and took his hand, forcing her smile to stay in place even though she knew she was about to betray him.

 

#

Kellogg couldn't help the smile when he spotted Piper outside Diamond City. Girl showed up everywhere.

Hell, it never even surprised him anymore. Didn't matter where he went, what job he had, seemed like her pretty ass would wander in at some point if he'd been gone for more than a week.

They'd settled into a nice routine. He spent days in Diamond City when he could, and when he couldn't? They'd meet up as much as possible.

It helped since he hadn't seen Shaun in over a month. Who would have thought he'd miss that bag of circuits so much?

What a pussy. He'd gone from being used to being alone to moping about. But, fuck, didn’t seem right sitting at an empty table to eat, no Shaun, no Piper, no sound, only the smacking of his own lips.

So seeing Piper standing there in Hangman's Alley, the breeze catching her hair from beneath her hat, well fuck that was a sight he rather enjoyed.

He dropped his pack behind her, then slid his arms around her before she could notice him.

The soft gasp went straight to his cock.

"Hey there, Ms. Wright."

"Conrad-"

He pressed a kiss to her neck. "I like when you say my name." His fingers traced the waist of her pants. "Bet you'll moan if for me."

She shuddered, then brought her elbow back into his side. "Wait. I need to talk to you."

"Fuck now. Talk later." He shifted his hips forward, dragging his cock against her ass. "Waited too long to let anything get in my way."

Her head dropped back against his shoulder, eyes closed. It stretched out her neck, and Kellogg wrapped his hand around the front of it.

She swallowed, her throat bobbing against his palm.

And damn did he enjoy that. The thin column of her throat, the way her pulse fluttered beneath his hand. Something about a little roughness had always turned him on.

Piper froze, then brought her elbow back harder into his side. "Nate is after you."

The ache in his side coupled with the sudden cold water from the name had Kellogg groaning and pulling backward. "You buddied up with the vault dweller now?"

Piper turned toward him. "I guess that means I don't have to ask if he's telling the truth." She crossed her long arms, fingers of one hand tapping against her other arm. "Is Shaun his?"

Kellogg reached into his jacket for a cigarette. "Nah, not exactly. This shit, it's more complicated than he thinks. About sixty years more complicated."

She frowned, but those wheels of hers turned. Behind her eyes, her brain moved like it always did, too fast for her own good. She'd piece it together like she did everything.

"Shaun is based on Nate's son, isn't he?"

Kellogg nodded.

"So, that isn't his son. Where is his son?"

"You really want to have this talk? You really want to know what I've done?"

Piper's lips pressed together for a moment, the seam paling to white. So, it seemed the woman who was all about the truth hesitated on what she wanted to know.

In the end, Piper didn't leave things in the dark, however. She nodded. "Yeah, I need to know."

Kellogg jerked his head toward the outskirts of the small settlement. "Ain't a conversation to have in the open like this. Come on."

 

#

 

Piper draped her coat over the back of the old couch before she took a seat.

They'd walked in silence, thick and uneasy. He'd admitted he'd killed a woman in cold blood. That he'd killed Nate's wife, that he'd stolen Nate's child.

The monster she'd had in her head when Nate had told the story had haunted her at night, and now she knew that monster was Kellogg. The monster was the man she was sleeping.

The man she was in love with, even if she didn't admit it.

Kellogg tossed his coat over hers, dust flying up from the weight. "First things first, I guess. Yeah, I did it, okay? Won't try to pretty that up. I was hired to get the kid. Spending the years in that vault had left them free of the radiation damage most of us had, and the Institute needed that."

"You killed Nora."

"Was that her name? Never knew it. Pretty girl. Her and Nate, they were a real fucking pair. Like staring at the old posters from before the war." He didn't look at her while he spoke. Instead, he stared down at his hands.

"Why did you kill her? Nate said you called him the backup, so why kill her? Even if you didn't care about the fact she was a living, breathing person, why kill someone you could use?"

"Wasn't supposed to go that way. She was fighting us, trying to hold onto the kid. The scientist was struggling to get a grip and fuck, either of 'em could have dropped the kid. I told her to let go, to relax, but she wouldn't listen. Even my own mama had a hell of an edge when it came to protecting me, so I got it, but, look, we were gonna take that kid. Ain’t no other way around it. If she kept fighting us, she was gonna hurt the kid. I ain't proud of it, but I did what I had to. The thing is, that was a lot longer ago than Nate thinks. That kid he’s after? Kid is sixty, now."

Piper said nothing as Kellogg spoke. The lines in his face seemed to deepen, to harden. He flicked his cigarette so the ash fell to the floor.

He kept talking, the cigarette trembling in his hand. "Nate, I knew I shouldn't have left him alive. Institute needed him, but the way he banged on that glass? The fire in those eyes? That's the sort of rage not a lot of people understand. I did, though. Reminded me of finding my wife and daughter's bodies. I knew if he ever got free, he'd come after me. Been waiting for it."

"So, you're sorry?"

This time he looked at her, and the coldness of his eyes had her pulling back. "Doesn’t fucking matter. I did what I did, and he's going to try to kill me for it, and even if I was sorry, I'm not about to roll over for him. Get this straight, Piper, this won't be a line you can walk. He keeps looking for me, I'm going to put a bullet in him just like I did his wife. He ain't gonna give me a choice in it, and I ain't gonna hesitate over it."

"Can't we talk to him, maybe-"

"-Maybe what? You really think he's going to forgive the man who stole his family from him? You think he's gonna look at me and figure, hey, live and let live? Nah, sweetheart, that ain't men like him and I. One of us will kill the other, and for the first time in a long fucking time, I got something worth sticking around for." Kellogg dropped to his knees in front of Piper. The floor groaned under his weight. "Least, I hope I still got something worth sticking around for."

Piper studied his face, the scar, the years that showed in his eyes even if they didn't on his face. His hands sat on her legs, touch soft as if not sure she'd welcome him.

Uncertainty on Kellogg was like compassion on a courser. Just didn't fit.

She took the cigarette from his lips and dropped it to the floor, using her heel to crush it out. Her fingers curled around his shirt, pulling him closer so he sat up on his knees. "I'm not going anywhere, Conrad."

He melted at the use of his name, as if it drew away the anxiety inside him. He leaned forward against her, his forehead resting against her chest. "Never figured you'd stay if you knew the truth." Her shirt muffled his voice, but his breath warmed her through the fabric.

She grasped his chin and lifted his face until he looked at her. "We'll figure this out."

He slid a hand behind her neck, the weight heavy and familiar. "Not many people in my life have ever picked me, you know that? I've taken a lot of shit, stolen what I needed, but not too many people picked my side over anyone else. Not many have been willing to stick around."

"I told you, I'm not going anywhere."

His lips tilted up on one side, that smirk she knew so well. "If there was one girl stupid enough to stick by me, leave it to you, huh?"

"That isn't nice."

"Well, I ain't nice. Pretty sure you know that." He pulled her forward into a hard kiss, the taste of cigarettes as familiar as his touch. His fingers pulled against the back of her neck as he rose and leaned over her. He broke the kiss as he flicked open the button on her pants. "Guess I get to remind you, don't I?"


	10. Chapter 10

Keeping her lives apart had proven easier than Piper had expected.

Kellogg stayed out of town much of the time, and when he returned, he did so at night. He'd taken a different property, something in the upper stands. Less through traffic, he'd explained. Still, he rarely spent much time there.

Nate was gone most of the time as well. While Piper had no doubt that finding his son was vital to him, Nate had gathered many other jobs along the way. He helped settlements, took out raiders and feral ghouls, and ran errands for almost anyone who asked. It was only a matter of time before the game of cat and mouse ended and the two men found themselves face to face.

The idea kept Piper up at night.

Nate had become her friend.She'd even gone with him on jobs.

His gruff exterior never changed, that edge of wariness there, but he'd softened toward her. He'd even joked with her, offering rare smiles.

How Piper could choose either of them, she didn't know. How could she forgive Kellogg for killing Nate? Or Nate for killing Kellogg?

"You're thinking awfully hard," Nate said from his spot on his barstool in The Third Rail.

"You know me; I'm always thinking hard."

"Yeah, guess you are." His words came out slurred. "It's one reason I like you. Too many people out here, they don't think. You remind me of Nora. Girl was always thinking, always figuring something out."

Piper kept her gaze down. Nate rarely spoke of Nora, rarely spoke of his son. Whiskey and pain-drenched the words.

Nate didn't stop. "What are you thinking about tonight that has you looking sad?"

"The future, I guess."

"Well, lucky for you, I'm an expert in that, since to me, this is the future."

"And what expert advice do you have for me? After everything you've been through, what have you learned?"

"Well, Ms. Wright." Nate's use of her last name made Piper flinch, thinking of Kellogg. Nate didn't notice, kept talking. "I've learned that there isn't much that keeps people going, but revenge is a hell of a motivator."

"Is that all you have? Revenge?"

Nate tipped his glass back, gulping down the remainder of whiskey. He slammed the glass on the counter hard enough, Piper worried it might shatter. "It's all you need. When someone takes away everything from you, you turn into something else, something ugly. This? This is all that's left."

Piper went to respond, but Nate stood instead.

Only his feet refused to hold him, and he went down hard. His forehead struck the bartop, his bulk hitting the ground.

White Chapel Charlie gave the most disapproving look a robot without a face could. "Get his drunk arse out of here."

Piper sighed before she helped gather Nate up, her body braced beneath his arm to help, and they made their way toward their room.

It took twenty minutes to get Nate into the room they'd taken in the Rexford for the night.

Piper kicked the door shut with her heel. "If you're going to keep getting this drunk, please drop some weight."

"I'm not fat." Nate grasped the dresser and pulled away from Piper. He lifted his shirt to show his stomach, showing he didn't have any real fat. Still, his body, which Piper could admit was flawless, did nothing for her.

"I didn't say you were fat. I said you were heavy." Piper removed her coat and hat, tossing them over the chair in the corner. "And you can't hold your liquor."

"I hold my liquor fine." Nate pulled his shirt off, the action clumsy and uncoordinated. "S'not drunk, just tired."

Piper took a can of water from her pack and handed it to Nate. "Drink this. I don't want to hear you complaining about a hangover tomorrow."

He let the water drop to the floor as he caught her wrist and yanked her against him. "You remind me of Nora; you know that?"

"You mentioned that."

He set his free hand on the back of her neck, the touch too intimate. "You look a little like her, too. Your hair, same color, same length."

Piper pressed back, but Nate held her still. He didn't seem to even notice.

"I'm not Nora."

"No. Nora's gone. Everything I had is gone, and no matter how hard I try, I can't get back any of it." He pulled her the last few inches so his lips struck against hers. It was a kiss, sort of. Drunken and messy and the clicking of his teeth on hers made her flinch.

Piper shoved her hands on his chest, but he didn't budge. He only stood, leaning down to keep the kiss as he moved them backward. He spoke against her lips. "Neither of us have anything, Piper. You're the only friend I got. Let's just, let's try this, just for tonight." He caught Piper's lip with his teeth, too hard for it to feel good, not that any of it felt good thus far.

Copper hit her tongue as they fell back onto the bed.

"Get off me, Nate." Piper squirmed beneath Nate's bulk, unable to move him unless he wanted to be moved.

"I'm so damned lonely, Piper. You're it, my only friend. Come on, let me forget everything for a while." He pressed his lips to Piper's throat, teeth biting down before he sucked hard enough she whined.

Piper lifted her forehead, remembering her last lesson Kellogg had taught her. She aimed her forehead at the bridge of Nate's nose when he pulled back, and the crunch made her stomach twist.

Nate rolled off her, his hands on his nose. "Fuck," he muttered into his hands as laid down on his back.

Piper got off the bed, putting space between them. "What the hell was that?"

Nate closed his eyes, hands still over his nose, blood dribbling down his cheeks. "I just wanted to forget, wanted to pretend I was back there again before it all went to hell. I'm just so damned sick of this all."

Piper sighed, Nate looking so broken there, lost.

"Nate-"

His snore shut her up.

The drunken idiot had passed out.

Piper ran her fingers through her hair at the mess of it all.

"He's not what I expected."

Piper twisted to find Kellogg standing behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"Saw you in the bar. Figured I'd stick close. You have a habit of getting yourself into trouble." Kellogg moved past Piper to stare down at Nate. "I could end this, you know." His hand went to the pistol at the small of his back.

"You'd kill him? Just like this?"

Kellogg pulled the gun but didn't lift it, didn't point it at Nate. "He won't stop, Piper. He'll keep coming for me. Be a smart move to kill him now. Be quick, painless. Better end than most people out here get. Hell, he seems like the sort of man who believes in an afterlife. Probably itching to get back there and see that wife of his. Might even be doing him a favor."

"I don't believe you'd kill an unconscious man."

Kellogg laughed, a hard, short, ugly bark of laughter that had her flinching. "Then you really don't know shit about me, do you? I killed his wife, took his kid right in front of him. You really think pulling this trigger would be that difficult? It's who I am."

Piper set a hand on his arm. "It's who you were, Conrad. It's not who you have to be anymore."

He didn't move, staring down at Nate.

What would Piper do if he lifted the gun? Would she let Kellogg kill Nate right in front of her? How could she stop him if he wanted to?

She didn't have to decide, however.

Kellogg holstered the gun, gaze angry. He twisted to face Piper, capturing the back of her neck to pull her into a kiss.

Unlike Nate's earlier, Piper gave herself into the kiss. She met every bit of frustration Kellogg offered, returned each touch.

He pulled back, catching her wrist. "Come on. Let's not wake sleeping beauty." Before he could pull back, his gaze locked on her throat, eyes narrowing to slits. He turned to look against at Nate.

His hand locked down when he seemed to make the connection. "The fucker touch you?"

Piper caught his hand when he went to pull away. "He was drunk and lonely. Don't, please."

Kellogg took a deep breath before turning his back on Nate. "The asshole probably won't ever know that you're the only reason he's still breathing. He ever pulls that shit again, I ain't letting your better nature get in my way. We clear?"

Piper pulled Kellogg toward the door. "If we're done talking about Nate, I've got better things on my mind."

The cock of Kellogg's eyebrow said she'd won, and that the last thing on his mind right then was dealing with Nate.

 

#

 

Kellogg had been so close to putting a bullet in Nate's head. It'd have been so fucking easy, too.

One squeeze of the trigger and that problem would have been over with. No worries, then. No concerns. He'd be that much safer, and Piper would have had to play the middle anymore.

When was the last time he'd hesitated? Hell, had he ever?

He didn't think so.

Hesitation got you killed. Maybe this one would still. If Nate showed up in a few weeks and blew his brains out, he was gonna be pissed.

Still, he'd found that he wanted to be the man Piper thought he was, or at least thought he could be. He wanted to be what she saw, even just that once.

As soon as the door shut behind them in the same warehouse he'd been in before, Piper was on him.

She'd left her hat and coat in the room, which meant when she wrapped her legs around his waist, he didn't have the fucking coat in the way.

She bit down on his bottom lip, letting him know her mood.

Rough was good with him. Didn't mind a bit of roughness.

His hands palmed her ass, pulling her against him before dropping her onto the bed. She bounced once before he crowded over her, his hand already working the buttons of her shirt.

He needed her naked like ten minute ago, like before he saw that fucking bite mark on her neck.

Just thinking about it made him want to go back and end Nate. Fuck Nate coming after him, he'd dared to touch Piper?

And the blood on his face, that he'd assumed to be from his tumble in the bar - the fucking sloppy drunk- much have been a pretty clear no from PIper.

Least his girl had figured out how to properly headbutt someone. That shit made him grin as he worked her shirt from her shoulders.

The freckles there, dark dots against her skin drew his attention. He'd counted the things so many times before, the little spots of darkness that stood out.

He never figured he'd have something like that again, that he'd ever have this sort of quiet peace with another person.

He sure as fuck would have never thought it would happen with some nosy goody-two-shoes like Piper Wright, but fuck if she hadn't blown right past any defenses he had.

Not that he'd put up much of a struggle.

Piper yanked at the bottom hem of Kellogg's shirt until it came loose from his pants. Her nails scratched his stomach when she slid her hands beneath the cloth like she needed to touch his skin.

Was she as ravenous for him as he was for her? Didn't seem possible even though the clutching of those fingers said she did.

And didn't that confuse the fuck out of him?

Piper was a pretty girl. Maybe a little mouthier than some folks would like, but she had a spark any man worth his gun would want. Hell, judging from the mark on her neck, that frozen asshole had wanted her.

What the hell was she doing with a merc past his prime and held together with more tech than anything else?

She could do so much better than someone she had no real future with.

Hell, what sort of future could he give her? Either he was the Institute's errand boy and put her at risk by their association, or he runs from the Institute and ends up putting them both on their shit list. He had more enemies than he could count, and while most of 'em wouldn't take a shot at him, they damned well wouldn't mind going after PIper or her sister.

So why the hell was Piper there? She could turn him over to Nate. She could kill him herself like some damned gift, and Kellogg doubted he'd do shit to stop her.

Nah, he'd probably hand her the fucking gun if that's what she wanted.

Kellogg pulled back, the shit in his head too loud to focus on Piper's lips, her hands, on the fact she'd wiggled out of her pants already.

"What's wrong?"

He dragged his finger across her bottom lip. "Why are you here? What are you wanting?" Fuck, he sounded like a pussy.

Piper leaned up, shifting until he was forced to move off her. She slid into his lap, her thighs on the outside of his hips, her naked skin contrasted against all the clothing he still wore.

If she cared about the sharp edges of his armor, she didn't say shit. Then again, she didn't seem to care about any of his sharp edges.

"I don't know. Honestly? You're the only thing in my life I don't have planned. The rest of it? Work, Nat, I'm always planning. Sure, my plans don't work out a lot of the time, but I know where I want to end up. With you? You're the only thing I don't have a plan for. I don't know what sort of future we could have, don't know how this could work out, have no idea where it's headed."

"So why are you sticking around?"

"Because the only thing I do know is that when I lie down at night, I wish you were there. You're the only thing I want in my life just because I want it. Not because I'm supposed to, not because it's right, but just because I want you, because I can't imagine not rolling over to find you next to me, because the idea of never hearing you growl out curses again it just too damned painful." She undid the button of his pants then lifted to her knees to pull them down enough.

He groaned at the feeling of her palm against his cock when she drew him from his pants. "You could do better."

Piper reached into Kellogg's pocket, the angle awkward but the girl seemed to like a challenge. She pulled a condom from the pocket he kept them in, tearing off the top of the foil. "You're not so bad."

"That vault-dweller would be a better fit, don't you think?"

She rolled the condom down over his cock, then positioned the tip at her entrance. "If I wanted Nate, I'd be in that room with him. I'm not going to pretend this make any sense, but for once? I don't care. I just want to do what makes me happy." She sunk down onto his cock, the progress slow as he filled her.

He reached forward for her, hands going to her hips, digging into her skin.

It was then he realized, he still had his gloves on.

Kellogg pulled back to remove them, but Piper set his hands back on her. "Leave them."

"You into a kink I didn't know about?"

She let her eyes fall closed as she rode him in slow, languid rolls of her hips.

He rubbed his thumbs against her skin, letting the rough leather scratch her skin. "Come on, sweetheart. You like 'em?"

Her hands went to his shoulders for balance. "Fine, yes."

Her pouting tone had him grinning. "Oh yeah? Not a surprise you got a thing for bad boys, Ms. Wright. You did fall for me pretty fucking fast. You got some fantasies about it?"

She leaned forward and brushed her lips against his, his hips never moving as she sped them both toward their ends. "Maybe. What can I say? You look really good in your gear."

He chuckled, thinking about all the fun ways to play with that. He wasn't above a little roleplaying. Fuck knew it wasn't a far cry for him to be the merc hired to get some answers out of a little reporter.

And he'd bet she'd look amazing all tied up and begging.

The idea alone had him on edge, holding off as the moans Piper released said she wasn't far behind.

She took one hand from his shoulder and went to her clit, eyes still closed. Probably why she hadn't gone shy on him. She rubbed her clit, never losing her rhythm.

That was some fucking skill.

Her back arched when she came, her tits pressing against his chest, his arm wrapped behind her to keep her close.

He let the squeezing of her cunt milk his cock, picturing for a minute that there was no condom.

Fuck, what sort of mom would Piper make? He wasn't a man with a pregnancy kink, and yet the idea of Piper carrying his kids, the idea of having kids that had her bite and his street-smarts, he liked that idea.

Instead of saying it, he pulled her close to keep the words inside by kissing her. She didn't respond at first, like distracted by the orgasm that hadn't quite drifted away.

He pressed his forehead to hers, fingers clutching the nape of her neck. "Sleep here? You can get back to the frozen dinner in the morning. I ain't feeling like I want you to leave my bed to go back to the man who left a bite mark on your neck."

"Jealous?" She flashed a smile as if the idea of him being jealous was absurd.

Kellogg jerked her forward, though the action caused his cock to slip from her. "Yeah, turns out I'm pretty fucking jealous. So, stay?"

The softness of her smile melted him, dulling some of his edges. Funny that none of the shit that happened dulled him. Didn't matter what the world threw at him, it only made him sharper, harder, more vicious.

The only thing he'd found that had managed to dig beneath his defenses had been the nosy, stubborn, difficult reporter in front of him.

 

#

 

Piper slid into the hotel room. She'd left her coat and hat, and she wasn't about to skip out of town on Nate.

No matter what had happened, he was her friend. He'd worry if she just ghosted on him.

Inside the room, Nate sat in a chair near the corner. "Figured you'd be back for your hat. You might have run off from me, but you'd never leave that hat behind."

Piper leaned against the door, fingers tapping on the wood. "Sorry if I worried you."

He shook his head. "For fuck's sake, Piper, don't apologize to me. I- I fucked up, okay? I know it. Last night, I really fucked up."

Piper went to respond, but he held his hand up to silence her.

"Don't. Let me explain. I don't have an excuse, not by a long shot. You're my friend, Piper, you've been my friend when I haven't had any. I don't usually drink, and that's a damned good reason why. I know we're not like that, and to be honest? I don't want to be. I'm not in any place to want anything with anyone, pretty clear given what happened."

"It's really okay, Nate. We all get drunk and do something we regret."

He rubbed his hands against the tops of his thighs before standing, face less certain than Piper was used to seeing. "I fucked up, and I'm sorry, and it won't ever happen again. You mean too much to me, and I swear, I won't ever do anything to risk your trust again. I don't have a lot anymore, but I've got you as a friend, and I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have that."

Piper swallowed hard, trying to keep her face blank. She forced a smile. "I get it. We're good, Blue. Promise."

The way he released a breath and smiled, a real smile, broke Piper's heart.

How could she betray him after that?


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait on my WIPs. I actually have this one finished (at least part one) so will update the last few chapters over the next while, so no more long waits!
> 
> Thank you for hanging in there with me <3

Piper held the note from her source as she peered around the open space east of Diamond City. She’d followed the map and directions, the rifle Kellogg had given her over her shoulder.

She’d gotten the note through her standard lines. A trader had brought it in from a source of hers in Bunker Hill. They’d promised information on the slavers who took people west, the whispers of three gangs she hadn’t been able to nail down. That’s how she worked, though. sources were the life-blood of any paper, the first step of discovering the truth.

The walk was quiet, giving her time to think.

It had been weeks since she’d seen Kellogg. The last time, he’d snuck into her place when Nat had been out of town and Nate had been doing whatever he did when he was gone. Kellogg had crawled into her bed, waking her with his kisses and his hand down her underwear. He’d even stayed the entire night, her head resting on his chest.

She’d listened to him breathe, her fingers stroking over the scars on his chest. Each night she woke up with a gasp, her hand reaching out to see if he was there. She’d picture him in her nightmares dead, Nate above him.

That night, Kellogg had woke. He’d soothed her back asleep with his fingers stroking through her hair. It wasn’t a promise that he’d always be there, but that he wouldn’t leave without a fight. She supposed that was all either of them could promise.

“Ms. Wright.”

She spun at the flat voice, the one she didn’t recognize. Behind her stood a man in a leather outfit she’d never forget. A courser.

She reached for her rifle, but a lifted brow from him stopped her.

“If I wanted to kill you, I would have never spoken to you. That would have been wasted effort.”

She lowered her hand. She’d never manage to kill the courser before he could end her, anyway. “Who are you?”

“You know that already.”

“I know what you are, not who.”

His lips tipped up. “I am X6-88.”

“And why did you trick me out here?”

He held his hands out as he walked closer, the sunglasses making it hard to read his face. “Kellogg has spent a great deal of time in your company. This concerns my employers.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about." If X6 thought she’d be giving up Kellogg, he’d done little research about her. Piper didn’t give up sources, and she sure as hell wouldn’t be saying anything about Kellogg.

“I would almost believe that if I didn’t know better. The issue is, your close association with Kellogg, in addition to your habit of making public people's secrets, make us concerned about what you might have learned and what you might do with it.”

“So why am I still breathing? From what I understand, your employers don’t leave many loose ends.”

He nodded, then folded his hands behind his back. “That is true. I would personally suggest we kill you, but that isn’t up to me. My employers feel Kellogg still has some usefulness to him, and that usefulness would disappear should anything happen to you. That means, for the moment, keeping you alive is preferable. What you do will determine if that remains true.”

“You’re afraid of Kellogg.” She said it as she studied him.

His hands twitched each time he mentioned Kellogg’s name, his voice thinning. That? That was fear. Reading people was a skill Piper had spent a long time honing, and no matter how X6 tried to hide it, she could spot fear a mile away.

“I fear no human, least of all some mercenary. He will outlast his usefulness, just as you will.” The tremble of his voice, the anger there, it called him a liar.

“I’ve made it my life to figure out the truth, to be able to read people, and you? You’re terrified. You might be here to threaten me, but you’re afraid of him.”

X6 moved in a blur. One moment he stood a few feet away, and the next her back struck the dirt and knocked the breath from her lungs. His face was inches from hers, his breathing the same as if it had taken no effort on his part. “Do not push your luck, Ms. Wright. You and Kellogg are both standing on very unsteady ground. Should either of you prove a nuisance, we will remove you.”

“I’ll put my caps on him any day.”

“And what of that sister of yours? Where do you lay your caps with her?”

Piper’s eyes widened, unable to stop the thought of Nat in that position, of X6’s hand wrapped around her throat. All the years Piper had spent to keep Nat out of danger, to ensure her work never endangered her sister, and here she was, risking her.

X6 tightened his hands, fingers digging into the sides of her throat. “That, you understand. Good. An amazing thing leverage can be. Do not make me talk to you again, Ms. Wright. The next conversation will not be nearly as pleasant.”

The pressure on her throat left, causing Piper to roll to her side, coughing to catch her breath.

When she rolled back, X6 was gone.

#

Kellogg flicked his cigarette away when he spotted that burgundy coat strolling his way in Goodneighbor. Fuck, he liked when she found him.

He’d stopped being insulted, started admitting that, fuck, the girl had some skills of her own. Made him thankful he hadn’t been on her radar before. She could have fucked his day up.

And, really, even that made him grin. He’d never needed himself some girl who needed him for everything, who followed him around like a weight. Nah, he liked that she could take care of herself. Hell, she’d had him when she hadn’t wilted beneath his threats that first night. 

A scarf around her throat had him frowning. The day was warm, but he knew damned well women sometimes dolled themselves up no matter how impractical it could be. Heels, bullshit tight clothes, anything to make ‘em look like they thought they needed to. 

Was she trying to look nice? Trying to tempt him? Girl should know by then that about anything tempted him when it came to her. She could have worn a bag, and he’d have begged for a few minutes to strip her out of it.

“Hey there, Ms. Wright.”

She flinched before pulling her shoulders back. Hmm, seemed she had something up her ass.

She reached out, the rifle he’d given her in her hand. “Here.”

He frowned, refusing to touch it. “You don’t like it? We can modify it or find you something else.”

“No. I don’t need anything else. I’m returning it. You can also remove the security system from my place.” The words struck him in the chest.

“The fuck are you talking about?”

“It’s over. We can’t do this anymore.” She set the rifle down on the railing beside him when he wouldn’t take it. “I’m sorry, but this is how it has to be.” She still hadn’t looked him in the eye, turning to rush off before hearing anything back.

Like fuck was she about to walk out on him without even a conversation.

He followed her despite her quick gait, catching up to her when they passed the door to the Statehouse. He caught her arm and yanked her in, past the guards who made a point of not staring at him. He pulled her into a side room, slamming the door shut behind them with his foot.

She tore her arm from his grip. “You can’t just drag me around.”

“I fucking can when you pull this bullshit with me. What the fuck do you mean we’re done?”

Her gaze stayed on his feet. “We both knew this couldn’t go on forever. I’m just being smart and ending it before anyone gets hurt.”

“Look at me, then. If you’re serious, if you want to just walk the fuck out on me, at least look me when you do it. Tell me to my face you’re done.”

She lifted her gaze, dark circles beneath her eyes like she hadn’t slept in days. “I can’t do this anymore.”

He moved forward, caging her in but not touching her. “Tell me you don’t love me. I want to hear it.”

“Why are you making this so hard?”

“Because if I’m gonna lose you, it better be for a fucking good reason, so let me hear it.”

“You’re so damned stubborn.” She shoved his chest, but he wouldn’t be moved.

“Tell me, Piper. Tell me you don’t love me."  He stared down at her, not willing to give her an inch of space. If she were determined to walk out on him, he'd know why. He’d know that's what she wanted.

If it were, he’d let her go. He wanted her happy; she deserved that. If she was really done, if she decided that she didn’t want him anymore, didn’t what what they had anymore, he’d let her go.

Fuck the security system, the guns. Girl had crawled too deep under his skin, and whether she wanted it or not, he’d make sure she was safe. Even if she never wanted him again, he wasn’t about to turn around and leave her on her own. Fuck that, he’d do whatever he could to make sure she had a good life even if it was without him.

She brought her hands up, and he expected her to slap him. He expected that famous Wright temper. Instead, she covered her face with her hands. Her hands muffled her voice, but they couldn’t hide the hitch in her breath. “I sent Nat to Sanctuary.”

The subject change had him frowning. “What? Why?”

“Nate swore Sanctuary was safe, that he’d keep her off the radar, that no one would find her there.”

Kellogg pulled her hands away before he caught her chin. “Someone threaten Nat? You should have told me, should have come to me and not that fucker. I’ll do what it takes to keep her safe, just like I would with you.”

“You can’t fix this because we’re the problem. You and I? We can take the risk for whatever this is. We can decide it’s worth it. I realized I can’t make Nat take that risk. I can’t be okay with Nat being the one to pay the price for what I want.”

He shifted his hand to the side of her neck, thumb against her jaw. “Nothing is gonna happen to her.”

“You can’t say that. There’s a reason you wear a condom every time we have sex. It’s because you know people will use those you care about to hurt you, you’ve lived through it. You won’t risk that but you want me to risk her? You know I love you, but I can’t keep putting her in danger.”

Kellogg’s fingers curled as he wanted to pull her to him, as he wanted to convince her. They shifted the scarf to show her neck.

Bruises, the sort that happened when someone gripped a person’s throat.

His fingers stroked over the marks, slow to keep his temper in check. Only one obvious answer. “A courser paid you a visit?”

She nodded.

“And this is why you sent Nat off, why you’re trying this running off thing?”

“I have to keep her safe.”

He closed his eyes as he pressed his forehead to hers. “I get it, I do. Fuck, Piper, if anyone understood, it’d be me. The thing is, even if you never see me again, you ain’t safe. They’ll never accept that we’re apart, never trust it. They’ll figure we’re gonna start shit back up again, or that we’re doing it behind their back. They’ll still see you as a weak point for me. You’ll still be at risk.”

“I don’t care about me, I care about Nat.”

“Sanctuary won’t be far enough. Institute knows you’re buddies with Nate, they’ll look there first. Trust me. I know a place where the Institute will never look, somewhere she’ll be safe.”

“It’s safe?”

“Not even a little, but she’ll be with someone I know, someone who no one fucks with. I wouldn’t send her anywhere I wasn’t sure about. She’s your family and that means I’ll do whatever it takes to keep her safe. Tell me yes. I’ll go tonight, I’ll pick her up and drop her off myself. She’ll be there by tomorrow night.”

She wanted to argue. It was written all over her face. Piper didn’t like to give up control, didn’t like to rely on others, but she needed to get used to it.

“This is my world, sweetheart. This is what I do, what I know. Trust me; let me help.”

She nodded. “When will we go?”

“Not us. I’ll go. I’ll move faster with just her and me, and you’ll keep the vaultie busy and out of trouble while I get her settled.”

“So, you’ll save Nat if I don’t leave you?”

She really thought that? She thought he’d bargain with something that meant that much to her? 

It had him shaking his head. “Fuck that. I’ll take care of Nat no matter what. You want to still walk out on me afterward? I’m not gonna stop you, I’m not gonna force you to stay.” He stroked over her neck, again. “I need something before I go.”

“What?”

He undid the scarf and dropped it on the floor. “Can’t walk out of here until I make sure you’re okay. Don’t care to see you marked up. You got any other marks on you, sweetheart?”

She didn’t answer, though her face softened. Guess that told him, didn’t it? The idea of some courser with his hands on her, threatening her, it had him struggling to keep his tone gentle. Kellogg wasn't known for gentle. 

“Let me see you, huh? Won’t be able to focus until I check you out, until I know you’re okay.”

“You just want me naked.”

The joke was thin, but it still had him smiling. Ah, there she was, the girl who didn’t let shit keep her down.

He grasped the edges of her jacket. “Come on, have some pity on me.”

She nodded, a single jerk of her head.

Good enough.

He slid her jacket off her shoulders, tossing it over the table in the middle of the small room. Finger-shaped bruises surrounded her throat like a necklace. “Did he give you his designation?”

“Does it matter?”

He worked the buttons of her shirt open, though the skin that showed meant nothing to him. Nah, he was looking for something specific. “Yeah, it matters a lot.”

“X6-88.”

Kellogg’s fingers stilled at the last button. Of course, it would be that asshole. He’d been trying to get rid of Kellogg since he’d come online. Father liked to say synths followed directions, that they had no will of their own, but Kellogg knew that as the bullshit it was.

X6 had wanted Kellogg’s job for years, wanted to prove how much better he was than some human merc. Too bad every attempt he made to move against Kellogg had failed.

Kellogg pushed the thought aside. Piper first, then Nat, then he’d deal with X6.

He took her by the shoulder and turned her. “Fuck.”

Her back had shades of green, purple, black. X6 must have slung her to the ground, the bruising showing a hard impact.

His fingers drifted over her back, over the injury that never should have happened. He’d gotten too comfortable, too confident. He’d believed the Institute still needed him, that they wouldn’t dare move against him.

He’d been wrong, and Piper had paid the price. He couldn’t be wrong again.

“It’s fine-”

He kept his hand on her shoulder when she tried to turn. “This is not fine, not at all.” He pressed a kiss to the top of the bruising, near her shoulder. “This shit won’t happen again. I swear, sweetheart, it won’t fucking happen again.”

She twisted and used a grip on the back of his neck to pull him down toward her. Her kiss was rough like she was trying to tell him something. Maybe apologizing for playing the shrew? For trying to run out on him without even a fucking explanation?

Maybe. 

He slid his arm around her to pull her closer, but a sharp gasp had him stop.

Right, the bruises.

He shook his head and pulled back. “Ain’t got enough fucking time anyway.” He brushed his lips against hers once more. “Two days and I’ll be back. Better take that time and figure out exactly what it is you want, because nothing comes easy. If you want shit, you gotta fight for it.”


	12. Chapter 12

Piper sat the top of Trinity Tower beside Nate. They’d cleared the place again since super mutants liked to move in.

“I’m glad you wanted to come.” His legs hung over the side of the railing. “Nat, she’ll settle in in Sanctuary. Preston’s there, and he’ll keep her on the straight and narrow. Well, as much as anyone can with you Wright girls.”

Nat wouldn’t be there, though. Piper knew it even if Nate didn’t, yet. Kellogg would have already moved her and been on the way to wherever he was taking her.

Piper didn’t know, didn’t trust herself to know. What if the Institute tried to get it out of her?

No, for right then, Nat was safest on her own. Piper had done too much harm already.

Nate would lose it when he found out, when he realized she was missing. That guilt gnawed at her, the fact she’d have to lie to him again, that she’d have to let him worry, let him blame himself.

Nat’s safety was more important than Nate’s feelings, though.

“What do you want, Nate?”

He turned a smile on her. “Is this another interview, Ms. Wright?”

“No.” She rubbed her palms against her thighs. “You’ve just struggled so much, I want to know what it’s all for. What do you want out of this all?”

He shrugged, hands resting on the ledge behind him. “I don’t know. At first, I wanted the life I had back. I thought I could get it back, thought if I worked hard enough, if I sacrificed enough, I could have it back.”

“And now?”

“Now I’ve realized that isn’t happening. It’s gone. I’ve got to make a new life.”

The words stirred hope in her. Did that mean he might be willing to let the past go? To move forward?

“Sometimes that’s all you can do, just keep moving forward.”

“And what do you want? I’ve gone a lot of places with you, and you’ve followed me around, helping me, but I want to know, what do you want? I doubt your dream was helping a stranger get revenge.”

What did she want?

“I want to not be alone. I want someone to lean on, to not have to do everything myself. I want, on those hard days, to have someone there with me. I’ve got Nat-”

“-Isn’t the same. You have to take care of kids, you have to be in charge. I remember sitting next to Nora, and there was nothing quite like having a partner, having someone you knew had your back no matter what.”

“Who would have figured us for a couple of hopeless romantics?”

“I wouldn’t have thought I was before. I guess you don’t realize what you want until you lose it. I mean, I knew I loved Nora. Knew it the first time I met her. I just took it for granted. Now? Now I realize how much it mattered, how much I needed her.” He took a deep breath before he rubbed his hand over his face. “If you ever find that, Piper, don’t let it go.”

#

Nat had the same bite her sister had. He wore a bite mark on his arm from when he’d strong-armed her out of the settlement, when she’d kicked and fought him.

It had taken him a hell of a talk to get her to settle down, to listen. Piper had told him exactly what to say, to prove she’d sent him.

It hadn’t helped with the glaring or muttering.

Kellogg held out a stick with molerat on it.

Nat took it, enough distrust in her eyes he’d think he’d kicked her puppy. “So you’re sleeping with my sister?”

Kellogg cocked up an eyebrow. If she thought she could throw him with a question like that, she didn’t know who she was dealing with. “I know your sister, yeah.”

“Know? Don’t forget, I found you two in bed. Piper likes to act like I’m a still five, but I’m not. I don’t need everyone to lie to me.”

Kellogg took a bite of his own food as he watched her, the same spark her sister had. Yeah, she wasn’t a damsel. He understood Piper worrying, but fuck, she had to remember the girl was the same blood as her.

Stubborn and prone to trouble.

“Yeah, we’re together. She didn’t want to upset you, so she didn’t tell you.”

“And who exactly are you? Because you didn’t sneak into Sanctuary like some rookie.”

“My name is Conrad. You don’t really need to know much more.”

“Don’t I? She starts seeing you and suddenly I get shipped off to Sanctuary and then picked up in the middle of the night to be hauled off to fuck knows where. Are you going to tell me that had nothing to do with you?”

The curse had Kellogg grinning. She stumbled over it, telling him she didn’t use them much. Better yet? She waited like she was daring him to lecture her.

“Your sister wanted to keep you safe. You want to know more than that, you’ll have to talk to her.”

“And when will I be able to do that?”

“When it’s safe.”

“So, until then, I’ll just crash with friends of yours?”

“Pretty much. Won’t be so bad, though. I’m sure you’ll find plenty of ways to get into trouble.”

She nailed him with a hard look. “I don’t care who you are, or what you do, but if you hurt my sister, if anything happens to her because of you, I’ll make it my business make you pay.”

Kellogg laughed, leaning back on the rock. He liked her. She had the same fire as Piper, that same spark. Fuck, when she grew up, when she grew into that attitude, he pitied anyone who pissed her off.

He wanted to help, right then. He wanted to teach her to shoot a gun, teach her to lose a tail, to disarm a mine. He could almost see his own kid, his daughter, see the sort of spitfire she could have grown into.

“Understood, Nat.”

 

#

Kellogg stared down the Pack alpha, Nat beside him.

It was a good plan, even if he fucking hated the man.

“So I’m getting a new cub?” Mason leaned to the side to stare at Nat.

“Temporarily, Mason. I need her to disappear for a while, need no one to be able to find her. Figure you could dress her up like one of yours and no one would be the wiser.”

Mason crooked his fingers. “Come on, cub, let’s take a look at ya.”

Nat stepped away from Kellogg, her back straight, showing no fear. Smart girl. During their trip, he'd come to appreciate the younger Wright sister. He saw a lot of Piper in her, but softer. Nat had lived a hard life, but Piper had protected her from so much of it. It meant where Piper had had to grow up fast, Nat got to lounge in that not-quite-an-adult stage a while longer. 

Mason reached out and caught her chin, lifting her face toward his, tilting it like he was checking out a prized animal. “Puny thing. Might get chewed on.” He shot the words to Kellogg like Nat wasn’t there.

“Better keep her from getting chewed on, Mason. Don't think you'll like my reaction.”

“This ain’t daycare. She gets underfoot, she’ll get stepped on.”

Nat pulled out of Mason’s grip, gaze hard. “I don’t need a babysitter.”

Mason turned his attention to Nat. “You think? Because this ain’t Diamond City. That’s where you’re from, right? Some city girl who thinks she can play with the big dogs?”

Nat squared her shoulders and looked Mason in the eye. No one challenged the alpha, but Nat didn’t seem to have gotten that memo. “I’m not afraid of you or your raiders.”

Mason leaned down, lip lifted into a snarl. Hardened raiders had wilted under that glare. “You should be. You’re soft, a perfect toy for something here to get their teeth into. Whatever you’re running from, whatever Kellogg there decided to hide you from, doubt it’s worse than what’s here.”

“I’m a lot of things, but soft isn’t one of them. Now, I don’t like being here any more than you like me being here, so why don’t you stop wasting both our time and just point me to where I’ll be staying.”

Mason narrowed his eyes for a moment before he snapped his fingers at another raider. “Set the cub up in the backstage, and make it pretty fucking clear anyone bugs her will deal with me.”

Nat turned to walk away, but Mason caught her arm. He reached out to a raider next to them and pulled the pistol from his hip, then set it in Nat’s hand.

She stared down at the gun, her hand wrapped around it in such a way that showed she wasn’t comfortable. Still, she nodded once before tucking it into her belt and following the raider toward the backstage.

“You don’t know her and her sister. She’ll shoot someone with that thing.”

Mason laughed as he crossed his arms. “Good. Every kid that age oughta shoot someone. It’s good for ‘em. So, Kellogg, be honest. What’s that kid to you?”

“Sister of someone who means a fucking lot to me.”

Mason huffed. “Never figured you’d be pussy whipped. Gotta say though, given what I see from the sister, well I can guess why you might fall for the older one. A full grown one like that? Yeah, that’s the type who’d get your balls in her grasp.”

“Fuck you, Mason. Just tell me you’ll keep the kid outta trouble.”

“Sure, sure. She'll shoot a couple raiders, do some chems, maybe knock over a caravan or two. It'll be fun having a cub to teach some shit to for a while. Just what kind of trouble is it, though? I want to know what might come knocking at my gates.”

Kellogg shook his head. “No one will know she’s here. Keep it that way, and no one will come looking.” He turned and walked toward the gate.

“And what about you, huh? What beast is chasing you?”

Kellogg peered over his shoulder as he walked. “You should know better than to ask that, Mason. I’m the one who does the chasing.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, there is no Nat/Mason going on, lol. Nat is too young. However, Mason is like Hancock. I imagine he is like that uncle who teaches kids things their parents hate. Nat will return after her time with the Pack able to cheat at cards and stab men.


End file.
